Safe and Sound
by Littlest Cinnaminion
Summary: Victor Stone and Wally West used to have only 2 things in common: they were both products of science, and their families had secrets that needed to come to light. The Light really hadn't needed to intervene, but now there was something else tying the two boys together: they were both very, very angry.
1. Chapter 1

_"Come on, Uncle Barry. We've got to move quickly, or we're going to get there late!" An adorable five-year-old pushed his overgrown bangs out of his face, pulling his amused uncle along after him with all the force of a three-foot tall child._

_Barry Allen chuckled, pulled out of his thoughts and finally agreeing to move faster to accommodate his nephew's wishes. Turning the corner, Barry was nearly knocked over by the speed that Wally threw himself behind his leg. The answer to Wally's sudden change in character was made clear as a raucous group of interns passed by, still shouting in faux-anger at each other as they play-fought. Barry sighed as he looked down at the shaking form of his favorite nephew. Sighing, he supposed that Wally's slight increase in confidence was only when he was in the presence of the Allens. Making a mental note to talk to Rudolph and Mary about kids possibly teasing him in school, Barry knelt down to eye-level with Wally, whispering soft reassurances that "Everything's okay" and "they're gone now". When Wally had finally stopped shaking and looked at Barry with a shaky smile, Barry gently picked him up and set him onto his waist. With a "You ready, Bright Eyes?" and an answering timid nod, the duo set off to the conference room where Barry was supposed to be meeting with Dr. Stone and several other renowned scientists regarding the newest serial killer plaguing the Midwest._

_Opening the door, Barry Allen fixed a sheepish smile on his face and started with his near-signature line: "Sorry I'm la-"_

_Looking around the room, he realized that it wasn't nearly as full as it should have been if he were the last arrival. There were only two other people in the room. "Umm..."_

_A stocky man with stress wrinkles creasing his brow and a pair of thick glasses tucked into the neckline of his button-down stood, and a little girl about the same size as Wally jumped off her chair and attached herself to the man's leg. Looking exasperated, the man looked down at the girl, seemed to consider asking the little girl to detach herself from his person, then gave up on the idea and returned his attention to Barry. Extending a hand in welcome, the man smiled. "I'm Silas Stone. I'm sorry, but you're not late."_

_Barry's free hand scratched sheepishly at the nape of his neck. "Hehe, sorry. Force of habit, I guess. I'm Barry Allen." As Barry leaned in to shake Dr. Stone's hand, Wally leaned even farther backwards in Barry's arms, burying his face in Barry's neck to get away from the hand reaching, grabbing, angry, screaming-_

_"Hey, little man, you ok?" Wally didn't answer, and at Stone's questioning gaze, Barry quickly introduced Wally to the good Doctor. "My in-laws left him with me for the week while my wife is out of the country and they're away." Somehow, Barry doubted that telling Stone that Rudolph and Mary had practically dumped Wally on him and Iris in a mad dash to catch a break from parenthood was too personal for having just met the guy a minute ago. Even for a speedster, that was moving a bit too fast. "I don't really know anyone in the city, so I can't just leave him anywhere. And," here, Barry lowered his voice, "he's a bit shy. Not too good with people. I would never just leave him alone."_

_Stone's eyebrow rose, and what looked to be a relieved smile appeared on his face. "Well, it would be nice for Dominique to have someone to play with," he said, with a sidelong glance to where the little girl was still clutching Stone's pants-leg. Barry's momentarily confused expression cleared right up._

_Crouching to the floor again, Barry set Wally down and smoothed the kid's blazing red hair back from his face. Wally had finally stopped shaking, and Barry gently took him by the shoulders trying to remove him from where he was now trying to attach himself to Barry's chest. After a few tries, and the whispered promise of a trip to get ice cream, Wally faced the Stones with a nervous expression and a hand that refused to let go of Barry's shoulder. At the same time, Silas coaxed Dominique out from behind his leg, but was similarly unable to get her to let go of him._

_The two children shifted nervously for a few seconds before finally Wally looked her in the eyes and mumbled to Barry, still loud enough that everyone could hear, "She has pretty eyes."_

_Barry and Silas shot each other amused looks over the kids' heads, but then Silas averted his gaze to where Dominique, blue eyes bright, was making a series of hand gestures. Silas quickly translated for Dominique: "Thank you. His hair is fiery."_

_Wally absently touched his hair, and a small, timid smile appeared on his face. Dominique gave a near-replica of the smile back to Wally, accompanied by a shy wave._

_Slowly, Wally turned back to Barry and made sure to really whisper his question this time. "What were those things she was doing with her hands?"_

_Making sure to keep his voice low, Barry glanced back over at the Stones, who seemed to be waiting for something big to happen, and then turned his full attention back to Wally. "That was sign language. I don't think that Dominique can speak," here, he looked to Silas for a silent confirmation, "so she uses her hands to communicate."_

_Wally's eyes lit up in the way that they always did when he heard new information, then dimmed in the way that they tended to when he expected a negative to the questions that he would ask. "Can... Is it ok for me to talk to her?"_

_Barry barely repressed the urge to throw a huge grin in Silas's direction and managed to give Wally a soft grin instead. "Of course. I have to talk to Dr. Stone about some boring stuff, anyway. You go have fun." Wally gave him a shaky grin and slowly let go of Barry's shirt. Silas, who seemed to be saying something to Dominique as well, saw that Wally was ready to take over and stood, missing Wally's badly suppressed flinch at the sudden movement._

_Wally stared at Dominique for a few seconds, then went over to the long table and climbed onto a chair, Dominique following suit. Looking at the table, he noticed that there was a pen there, and there were a few spare pieces of paper. Slowly, he picked up the pen and slowly wrote out the beginnings of a beautiful friendship._  
_'Hi, my name's Wally.'_  
_'My name's Dominique.'_  
_'That's my Uncle Barry. He's a scientist.'_  
_'My dad, too.' Here they exchanged a smile, and that was all she wrote._

* * *

**'Are you still coming over?**' The text message was from twenty minutes ago, and Wally finally closed his comic book to pick up his phone. Looking down at the id tag, a small smile worked its way onto his face, and he texted back a quick, '**There in a flash.**'

Blurring into the kitchen, he quickly grabbed a snack (or five) while pocketing his goggles. "Hey guys, I'm leaving!" The words echoed through the cave much longer than the time it took for Wally to get halfway to his destination. Wolf, though disturbed by Fastpaw's sudden appearance and disappearance, made nothing of it and settled back down for a nap.

Not two minutes later, Robin, Kaldur, M'gann and Connor re-entered the cave, laden with groceries. "Wally, we're back with the food!"

"Yeah, come on out, Kid Stomach!" Robin taunted, waiting for their personal bottomless pit to appear to do what he did best: seriously call the non-bankruptcy of Young Justice into question.

When Wally didn't appear, Robin ran off to check the rooms, coming back with a frown. "He left, after he made us go and get food! I don't believe him!"

Kaldur looked at all the bags that Superboy was carrying, then tried to quell Robin's irritation. "Well, we will at least be safe when Kid next decides that he wants something to eat."

Robin crossed his arms huffily. "Yeah, whatever."

* * *

"Min?" Wally opened the door and entered the Stone house, waiting for Dominique to answer him. His call was soon answered as she waved him up the stairs from over the banister.

"Nothing on your dad?"

She shook her head and started to sign quickly. _It's been 3 days, and he hasn't come home. No one from work has seen him either, and you know about those incidents that have been happening at his job, recently. I'm worried. What if someone took him?_

Wally's brow furrowed. "What incidents?"

_People said he'd been kind of clumsy, knocking things over, falling a lot. Disoriented, or paranoid. I think someone's threatening him._

"But why did you wait three days? I thought you said it had been _hours_ since you heard from him. Min, you know how long that is in- he could be anywhere by now." Wally immediately started for the study, where all of the Stone paperwork was. On the way, he passed a picture of Elinore Stone. He stopped, taking note of the date and wrapping an arm around Dominique's shoulders when she stopped beside him to stare at the photo. "Sorry. I should have known there was a reason."

Not making eye contact, Dominique started to sign. _I didn't really worry about him when he didn't come home Tuesday. You know he does that sometimes. Wednesday, I just thought that he was avoiding me because it was Mom's death-day. Then yesterday was the anniversary of Vic's disappearance, and he always holes himself up in the study._

"Why didn't you tell me that you were alone for 3 days? I would have stayed over or _something_! You _know _Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris won't care. Plus, I can be anywhere I need to be in less than 10 minutes," Wally's grip on Dominique tightened, and she gave him a smile.

_You had more important things to worry about anyway. Do you want to head out now? _She raised an eyebrow, pulling on Wally's hand as she led him to the front hallway to find her Converse.

"Yeah, sure." When she stood up again and had grabbed her purse from the table, he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "Happy birthday, sis."

* * *

_So, this is something new. Basically, I said, "Aqualad, your Cyborg is showing." one too many times and then this__ idea punched__ me in the brain. I hope you liked the first part._

_Please review!_


	2. Chapter 2

Over the course of the next week, Robin, Aqualad, and Artemis became increasingly suspicious of Kid Flash's even-more-absent minded behavior. Kaldur didn't know what to think of the newly subdued Kid Flash, although the leader welcomed the sudden drop in Superboy and Artemis antagonizing with open arms. Artemis had developed a habit since joining Young Justice of taking deep breaths in preparation for her yelled responses to Wally's snarky comments; now it just looked like she was practicing holding her breath because Wally never made the comments he was supposed to when she expected them. And Robin didn't even have to try to beat KF at video games now, because Wally was always zoning out and muttering things to himself so quickly that even Superboy had issues hearing him.

This would not have been as much of an issue if they had an explanation, but as everyone knows, it is _extremely _difficult to catch a speedster when he doesn't want to be caught and there is no clever food trap set up. Any time anyone tried to confront Wally about his newfound crazy tendencies, Wally disappeared in literally the blink of an eye. Flash had been too busy with League and personal issues, so there was no asking him, and the three juvenile detectives didn't know who else could help with such a small scale project that didn't necessarily require the all-knowing powers of Batman, so they decided that a three person confrontation should suffice.

"For the sake of the team," Kaldur reasoned.

"For the sake of my paranoia," Artemis muttered.

"For the sake of the aster," Robin said sagely, then dodged Artemis's incoming fist.

Ironically enough, the same day that Robin, self-proclaimed leader of the investigative team, had planned to knock out Kid Flash, tie him up, and interrogate him, Wally showed up in his room and asked him if he wanted to help him try to cook something, since M'gann was out of the cave on an "errand run" with Connor. Anger and bat-paranoia momentarily quelled by the resume in their bromance, Robin was sufficiently distracted for a few hours, wherein he and Wally managed to turn the kitchen upside down. (Although _some_ food was made, so it wasn't a _complete _waste of time...)

Robin, laying on the counter, wiped half-heartedly at his sunglasses, which were coated in flour, and then rolled over to look down at his best friend on the floor. "So what brought this on?"

Wally shifted a little, eggs still on his face. "Eh, nothing really. I was hungry."

Robin rolled his eyes, not that Wally could see that. "You've been spacing all week, and then all of a sudden we're bros again. What happened?" Robin frowned and lowered his voice. "Was it something with your da-"

Wally cut him off before he could finish. "A friend of mine's been having some family trouble. I've been worried, but she said that she's making it work and then ordered me away for the day. Which doesn't exactly sit well with me, but she kicked me out, so I kind of have no choice. So I figured I'd come to the cave and spend some time with my best friend, since I've kinda been neglecting you for the past week. Heh, sorry." Wally smiled sheepishly, and Robin was (irritatingly) forced to forgive him.

"Yeah, whatever, just don't let it happen again. No one else knows how to play video games here, and I was going crazy," Robin said, hopping off the counter and giving Wally a hand up. The two looked around at the kitchen, looked at each other, and in unison hightailed it to the den. "We'll get that later. Maybe."

Taking a quick glance up at the clock, Robin vaulted over the back of the couch and grabbed the remote, quickly changing to the news and ignoring Wally's obnoxiously loud groan.

"Dude. What self-respecting teenager watches the news of his own volition? Especially in the _summer_." Wally did not understand where he had gone wrong in corrupting Little Dickie-bird, but he promised himself that he would atone for his past sins. Trying to reach over Robin to grab the remote, Wally received a lovely foot to the face for his efforts. Spluttering, Wally zipped backwards to the other end of the couch, and then promptly fell over the side. When Robin started cackling hysterically, Wally popped back up over the side aggressively wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "DUDE!"

Robin smirked, then continued to watch the news like nothing had happened. Wally resigned himself to sitting on the floor, vowing to never let Dick's feet anywhere near his face again.

Scanning the bottom line, as the news channel momentarily went on break, both boys caught sight of the headline: **Star Labs reaches another milestone in technological advancement. **Robin quickly disregarded it, but Wally had a split second to look worried before—

"_Recognized: Miss Martian: B05, Superboy: B04."_

M'gann walked in with a smile on her face, took a look at the two boys covered in food on the couch, and then went flying for the kitchen. Upon hearing her scream in pure frustration—_that would be the sign that she and Superboy spend too much time together_, Wally thought dryly—Robin hopped onto Kid Flash's back and they both zoomed out the back of the mountain.

* * *

"I've got a hot date!"

Everyone in the rec room stopped what they were doing to stare at the resident redhead. Superboy was the only one tactless enough to both wonder aloud what was going wrong with the world and say exactly what was on everyone's mind: "But you're Wally."

The speedster bristled at Supey's deadpan. "Hey, ladies dig the Wall-man!" No one said anything, which said everything. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get out of here. Can't keep my _date _waiting!" With those life-shattering parting words, Wally exited the now silent mountain.

Robin was, unsurprisingly, the first one to recover, hidden eyes fixated on Artemis in the corner of his vision. "Well, that was..."

"Unexpected," Aqualad supplied, still staring bewildered into the zeta-tube docking bay.

"What girl in her right mind would decide to go out with _Wally_?" Artemis's verbal explosion was accompanied by several amused glances between her teammates, which she of course failed to notice. "He's just so... _Wally_."

Robin, ever the troll, decided to start something. "Oh, _come on_, Artemis. You can do better than _that_."

Avoiding Robin's trap, Artemis went a different route. "I give him 6 hours before he comes back, whining about how the date was a complete failure."

Robin, never to be put off by one obstacle, pounced again. "Sounding kind of eager there, Arty." At the sound of her spluttering non-comeback, Robin smoothly continued. "I give him a day. Wally would kill me if I gave him anything less."

"You're both horrible! I'm very happy for Wally! This could be the start of something serious for him! We should support him in his new relationship," Megan said, eyes bright and head probably filled with ideas of double dates.

Zatanna snickered. "I notice that you sound particularly relieved, Megan." At M'gann's faux-affronted denials, the rest of the team laughed, save for Artemis, who was quick to slip out of the room silently.

* * *

5 hours later, when the team had settled down to watch the final movie of the night, _Iron Man_, at Robin's request, they were interrupted by the computer's announcement.

"_Recognized: Kid Flash, B-03."_

There was a mad scramble as the movie was paused to get to the zeta platform and interrogate Wally first. Robin vaulted over a growling Connor's head to gain the lead as they came around the corner, but stopped short. "Wally, what the hell happened?"

Wally was bleeding profusely from a cut on his forehead- **It's a head injury, Artemis, that's why it's bleeding so badly stop worrying yourself**- that stretched from his right temple down to his cheekbone, matting some of his hair with blood. There was a fading bruise that encompassed the left side of his jawbone. He had a fat lip, a bloodstain that seemed to grow even darker in color as Wally stood there cradling his side, and what looked like a rapidly healing hole in his thigh.

In other words: "Wally, you look horrible! What happened?! And why are you in your suit?!"

Wally was vibrating as his eyes shifted frantically from face to face. His eyebrows furrowed as he ignored his teammates' questions and shifted his gaze between Aqualad and Superboy. Abruptly, Wally came to a decision. "Superboy, could you please come with me?"

Before Superboy could blurt out a "What happened?" Kid Flash had blurred out of existence and reappeared seconds later with a med-kit slung over his shoulder.

"Kid, if you need medical assistance, we would better be able to administer it here than out in the open," Kaldur explained calmly as he attempted to approach Kid Flash, who was just getting more twitchy with each passing second.

"I don't have time this isn't for me Supey would you please JUST COME WITH ME!" Wally's words sped up as his anxiety increased until eventually he was shouting his request, which ultimately made Connor no more inclined to come with him.

"Why does only Superboy have to go? What are the rest of us supposed to do, just wait for you to come back? Heck no, we're going with you! And if you don't like it, you're going to be the fastest kid on the planet with an arrow through his foot, in addition to all those other injuries." Artemis left no room for discussion, and turned around to run and change into her costume like Robin had done minutes earlier. Wally took one quick glance around the room and knew exactly where the rest of his teammates stood.

He tried one more time. "Guys, you really don't have to do this."

Superboy growled out a "Let us help you," which seemed more threatening than supportive in Wally's opinion. Miss Martian added in her two cents. "Wally, you can't expect us to let you come in looking like this and not try to figure out what's going on and help you out. We're going with you." Zatanna nodded, already in her lady-tux.

Wally slumped for all of a second before fixing them all with a gaze so serious it took a few blinks to get over it. "No. Questions."

With that ending growl, Kid Flash turned to face the zeta tubes and went about bandaging his wounds. He double-checked the med-kit and waited for the rest of his teammates to switch out of their civvies. Minutes later, he heard the pounding of running feet echo down the hallway and slid his goggles back over his eyes. Glancing back over his shoulder, he heaved a near silent sigh and steeled his gaze again, ready to get back to the action.

_"Recognized: Kid Flash, B-03."_

A determined gaze passed between the remaining members of Young Justice, and they all decided that Wally was in for some serious interrogation when the fight was over. But, until then:

_"Recognized: Robin, B01. Aqualad, B02. Superboy, B04. Miss Martian, B05. Artemis, B07. Zatanna, B08."_

Red Tornado, from his spot in the darkened hallway across from the zeta tubes, sent out a priority alpha message to Batman and Flash. "_The children are fighting blind._"

* * *

_Do you like it? Love it? Hate its guts? What? Review and let me know! Also, I love theories. Tell me about those, too._


	3. Chapter 3

The place was a bit of a war-zone, to say the least.

It was a science laboratory on the Chicago waterfront, and just about every single alarm system that _could_ be going off _was_ going off. People were shouting all over the place, and every guard that could be outside _was _outside, having some sort of evil pep rally.

In other words: **Well, there goes the stealth. Like every **_**other**_** mission we take.**

Everyone nodded in agreement with Robin's aside except for Kid Flash, who looked, for lack of a better word, skittish. Zatanna sighed heavily. **So. Anyone know how we're supposed to get in?**

**I don't suppose that you have a plan, Kid Flash? **He didn't answer. **Kid Flash?** Everyone looked around for the speedster, who had been there a few seconds ago. **Umm, no one felt a breeze, right? **Miss Martian somehow asked quietly through the mind link. Everyone but Robin, who was fully focused on the fight, shook his or her head no.

**What is happening over there?** Zatanna asked, and everyone looked to Robin, the one most likely to know what was happening because he was Robin. In the hero business, that carried pretty much the same weight as being Batman. **KF called us in as backup.**

Artemis, of course, took this as a personal affront. **Who does he think he is, calling us in to help and then leaving us to sit back and watch the action?!**

**Technically, he didn't ask **_**us**_** to do anything. He only asked **_**me**_**, **Superboy said with his frown on his face. He'd kind of been hoping for a chance for Wally and him to be alone so that he could save him a few times and make them even. Connor had still yet to pay back the debt that he owed Wally for breaking him out of Cadmus, giving him the moon, and taking him in when Superman wouldn't.

…Actually, now that he thought about it, Wally had also promised him Superman. It was a good thing that Superman had turned out to be such a jerk, otherwise he never was never going to get the chance to pay Wally back.

Artemis couldn't hear Superboy's reasons for the comment, though, so of course she snapped at him. **Oh, like we were just going to let him run into the cave bleeding and **_**not**_** try to see what was going on!**

Superboy growled. **I never **_**said**_** that!**

Aqualad cut in before the two of them could turn the mind link into a mental warzone. **Enough! Artemis, your nerves are no reason to pick a fight. And Superboy, Artemis meant no offense. Please, both of you, keep calm until we figure out a plan on how to approach this situation.**

And then Robin cut in, sounding increasingly distressed although he tried to hide it. **We have another situation. Kid Flash has **_**obviously**_** lost his mind.**

Said speedster was running through the fray, _completely _ignoring the fact that at that moment, he was a threat to his own health. Once enough people had caught sight of him, Kid Flash smiled and flashed off somewhere else.

**Was anyone else aware that there is such a thing as a suicidal speedster? Because I was not.**Robin deadpanned before ducking around the corner without a sound and throwing a canister of knockout gas into the confusion. Once Artemis saw that Robin had run off, she looked over at Aqualad with an almost apologetic expression on her face that was gone as quickly as it had come, and then she too disappeared into the night. Superboy, still looking angry (but that was just his "thinking" face), was not about to take any orders if Artemis wasn't, so then he jumped over the wall that they were hiding behind and started to fight the good fight as well. Miss Martian, Zatanna, and Aqualad were left to sit behind the wall and figure out what their next course of action would be, given that they didn't have _any_information on what they were looking for, who they were fighting, or exactly what the big picture was.

Really, it was a wonder that the team had lasted this long.

Robin, meanwhile, had managed to shoot a grappling hook over the side of the building without enemy interference and get to the roof, easily gaining access to what he considered his domain: the vents. He couldn't contain his cackle this time as he swiftly scrambled into the building, not leaving a trace of evidence that he'd been there behind.

Meanwhile, Artemis and Superboy had gone the more direct route, aiming to face the mob of security outside of the lab. Arrows flew seemingly from the heavens as several flare arrows exploded and made everyone disoriented.

Well, everyone except Superboy, who closed his eyes every time he heard an arrow sail through the air and just started swinging half-blind at whoever he could reach. Really, with the way that he was so energetic, someone would think that he actually _enjoyed _throwing people into each other.

Aqualad, Zatanna, and Miss Martian, meanwhile, had decided that a plan, at this point in the game, was not going to help matters any, so they had joined the fighting on the frontline. And Kid Flash was nowhere to be seen.

The reason for that was because he was running like a madman through each and every corridor of the lab and its many underground parts- **evil is so predictable**- and into the hardcore, "Yeah, we're evil. Look at how much shiny, clean grey tech equipment we have" labs, whisper- shouting, "Sonic!"

* * *

The whispers carried farther than they usually would, at least to the aforementioned Sonic, who was a bit otherwise occupied.

"Now, now. Wouldn't want to hurt ourselves, would we?" The man asked, his mask glinting in the florescent lights. There wasn't a hint of strain in his voice, there was no angry ranting of his plans, there was no cursing her to the pits of oblivion and beyond. He was just..._calm_. Which was probably even scarier than if he had been doing all of the above.

Sonic's hands trembled as she gripped her crowbar tighter. She ignored the uncomfortable feeling of the sweat collecting on the nape of her neck, the pained feeling of her muscles screaming for rest, and the semi-nauseous feeling of a concussion forming. A bead of sweat ran into a cut on her cheek, and she grit her teeth.

"Come now, child. You're in over your head," his tone was short, and he sounded un-impressed, starting to walk forward. **Good thing that I'm not here to impress you, huh?**They began to circle each other, eventually with her back to the door and this villain beside the table desk next to the window. "Do you really expect to win this? No experience, a ragtag group of so-called "superheroes" behind you, and a flimsy piece of metal as your weapon of choice?"

In a movement so fast it was superhuman, the man had grabbed the crowbar and bent it useless. Behind the domino mask, Sonic's eyes grew wide, and the trembles escalated to full blown shaking.

"Child, don't make me laugh."

At that point, several things occurred at once: Sonic prepared to get the hell out of there, Robin kicked open the vent and dropped down from the ceiling in between the two, and the man let out a small chuckle.

"Ah, _Robin_. A pleasure to finally meet you."

Robin ignored the man and turned to the girl who'd been trying to hold him off. "Are you-"

Sonic was gone. Robin's eyes narrowed behind the mask. **No one can move that quickly except-**

"Now, Robin. Look what you made me do..." Robin's head snapped back to the other man, and he suddenly felt the room grow chilly. The man walked closer to him, and Robin readied three bird-a-rangs behind his back. But the man simply brushed him aside. "But don't worry. Our time will come soon." And with those parting words, the man strode out of the room, hands clasped behind his back.

Robin watched the man go, bewildered by the turn of events. It wasn't often that Robin was confused. But his heart was pumping; this guy was dangerous, they _both_ knew it, and yet he wasn't going to do _anything_.

But even so, because the Bat Clan enjoys tempting death, Robin took the confronting step forward, fists clenched at his sides, and called down the hallway, "Who are you?"

The man stopped walking, and turned his head. The orange of his mask glinted in the florescent lights. "Call me Slade."

Then, in a way that he had only seen his mentor do, Robin watched as the man melded into the shadows and disappeared.

* * *

Sonic, meanwhile, was running blindly, trying to get out of the building without running into anyone else. She was so busy mentally cursing the nameless man who had cornered her a few minutes ago like some sort of woodland creature that she didn't notice until too late-

**How did I end up on the roof?**

Groaning to herself and running a hand down her face, she turned around to look for another way down, and nearly screamed in terror at the sight of the orange-masked man. **And that would have been good for no one.**

"Nowhere to run?" Was Slade's mocking question. As he took a step forward, she scrambled backwards and grabbed another iron rod that had been lying rusting on the ground. **Not that I'm complaining, but why are there so many random iron rods lying on the ground?**

Slade, even though she couldn't see his face, seemed to look vaguely disappointed. "I thought that we'd been over this." Sonic said nothing, just gripped the bar tighter, ready to swing if necessary.

Slade took another step forward, she another step back. The pattern continued until Sonic had her back pressed to the ledge of the roof. Looking down for a second, she realized that there were about 10 long stories for her to fall. **Nothing's ever easy, is it?**

Looking back at Slade, her breath caught in her throat when one of his hands came to grip the rod and the other her shoulder. "You should put that down. Someone could get hurt."

Now the one thing that was slightly confusing to Slade was the lack of vocal response from the amateur. The witticisms in fights with "heroes" were half the fun, and the heroes always seemed to pride themselves on their one-liners. Slade, in a sudden flurry of movement, had flung away the rod and was gently rubbing one gloved thumb over the skin of a trembling Sonic's neck. Looking into the masked eyes of the teenager, Slade asked almost gently, "Won't you talk to me? What are you doing here?" When he (unsurprisingly) received no answer, Slade's hand tightened its grip, cutting off her air supply as he felt her heartbeat race beneath his palm. Ignoring the hands clawing at his glove, Slade held her out over the ledge. "Then maybe you'll scream for me."

And then he dropped her.

* * *

Kid Flash, in the meantime, had searched through every paper that he could find in the underground levels of the lab, found a few promising notes and was running back up the many flights of stairs, chewing on a protein bar. He had reached the ground floor and was getting ready to re-enter the fight scene when he heard two amplified claps from above. Glancing up casually, Wally just about had a heart attack. "SHIT."

In the amount of time it took for Miss Martian to wonder, "They curse in Kansas?" and Aqualad to yell, "Miss Martian, focus! Civilian-", Kid Flash had raced back into the building up to the second floor and was getting ready to intercept Sonic's free-fall, doing equations for timing, force, and speed as he went.

"I'm on the second floor," he said to the air, and he heard the again amplified claps. **Three seconds, two, one…**

On the one, Wally took a running start and leapt out the window, crashing into and adjusting Sonic's body to prepare for the rough landing. The sudden change in velocity made the less than graceful crash jarring, but Wally managed to use the momentum of the fall to roll and (hopefully) not break anything essential.

Sonic sat up slowly, making sure that her mask was still on. The spirit glue was still holding fast, and reassured, Sonic stood up from where she had landed a few feet away from Kid Flash.

As she was getting to her feet, Kid Flash opened his eyes and experimentally flexed every part of his body. Looking up at her from the ground, Kid Flash raised himself up to his elbows, ignoring the pain in his chest from the mid-air collision. "You ok?" Upon seeing her nod and nodding in response to the reciprocated question, he took Sonic's outstretched hand, got up and looked around them.

"Aw, man."

The two were being held at gunpoint by at least 12 different people. Wally muttered under his breath, "Great."

One of the guards spoke up. "If you cooperate, one of you gets to walk out of here. If you don't, neither of you will be seeing your friends for a long time. So which wi-"

At some signal missed by all 12 of the guards and Superboy, who had been rushing over to help, Kid Flash and Sonic both disappeared from view. Then one of the guns was ripped out of someone's hands, and in a flurry of black and speed, the same 12 guards were laying unconscious on the ground, towered over by Kid Flash and Sonic.

* * *

From where he stood on the roof, Slade raised an eyebrow behind his mask. "Hm. It's always the quiet ones, isn't it?" Then he stepped back into the shadows and again melted away.

* * *

Through the mental link, Artemis spoke for the first time since the beginning of their altercation with the still unknown enemy. **Did anyone else just see what I did?**

Superboy's anger (confusion) came through. **There are more speedsters beside Wally and the Flash?**

**The girl is a Flash as well? **Aqualad questioned, attention split between the conversation and the fight. The question was somehow amplified by Zatanna and Miss Martian's confusion.

Robin finally joined in. **Yeah. I saw her earlier, and I thought she fit the description. But this confirms it. **Robin's input was punctuated by a sudden explosion and cackling on the east side of the lot.

Zatanna wasn't so sold. **I don't know, guys. She's not flaunting the fact that she's a Flash; there's no red in her costume. **

**Zatanna, that could honestly mean that she was related to any of us. Except for you and me, **Artemis snarked, and there was another explosion nearby as an arrow landed in the middle of a crowd of enemy soldiers.

Just as Miss Martian was about to reply, a low buzzing sound filled everyone's ears. As the heroes looked up, they were met with the lovely sight of a seemingly-unending fleet of MONQIs.

Superboy was not amused. **I **_**hate**_** monkeys.**

**Oh, boy, **Robin added right before Superboy's battle cry of rage rang through the night (again). The rest of the team was still a bit preoccupied with the rest of the guards.

**Where are they **_**coming**_** from?! **Artemis asked, her supply of arrows running dangerously low.

**Don't care. Keep hitting. **Robin advised, back-flipping over someone's head and using the force to bring said person's head crashing to the ground. Robin then used the momentum from his landing to kick one of the MONQIs into another.

**Easy for you to say, Mr. I'll Stop When I'm Dead, **Zatanna joked, and Artemis's eagle eyes could see Robin's blush even from her perch high above them all. She allowed herself a brief moment to chuckle before getting her head back into the fight.

**Superboy, how are you holding up? **Miss Martian, still in the air and psychically throwing things/ people together, inquired gently.

**A little busy,** Superboy grunted. **Anybody willing to lend a hand over here?**

**Everyone, cover your ears. **There was a tiny pause as the rest of the team processed Kid Flash's command, then everyone covered their ears. The gunmen, taken by surprise at the abrupt end to the fighting, were not conscious long enough to seriously wonder about it, effectively knocked out by a high pitched screaming that made their eardrums bleed.

Sonic turned her shriek to the MONQIs, watching as the frequency effectively fried their system. As soon as the last MONQI had fallen, Sonic stopped, looking around to make sure that all the good guys were OK. Once she saw the other heroes slowly rising, and once Wally pointed to where Artemis, the last of the group, was standing, she nodded. Wally slung an arm around Sonic's shoulder, and sighed contentedly. "That'll do, kid. That'll do." When she looked up to see him smile, Sonic's face stretched into _the exact same smile. _The_ Flash _smile_. _

**Yup, that settles it. It's another speedster. **Everyone else nodded at Robin's final statement, but Superboy was the one who again said exactly what everyone was thinking:

**Wally, you've got some serious explaining to do.**

The smile on Wally's face faltered just the slightest bit. Sonic raised an eyebrow at him in question, and then there was a moment where both Sonic and Wally's hands became complete blurs. Fifteen seconds later, there was a nod from the both of them, and the team had the feeling that they'd just missed something incredibly important in the grand scheme of things.

Aqualad, ever the leader, stepped towards Wally and their nameless saviour with a relaxed smile. "Thank you for your help in dealing with this...situation."

Sonic looked somewhat startled at being approached, but recovered quickly and smiled. Aqualad asked, "What is your name?"

Sonic was about to answer when Wally blurted out, "You're bleeding."

Everyone was sufficiently startled, but Superboy was a bit suspicious of the finger snap that he'd heard from behind Sonic's back just as she was about to speak. Sonic was looking down at the tear in her sweatshirt just below her rib cage. The once-grey undershirt was now a dark red there. There was also the matter of the bruise marks around her neck, the bullet hole in her sweatshirt on her right shoulder (not as serious looking as the rib injury, but at least a graze), the bump on her head, and the way that she seemed to be favoring her right leg.

Sonic shrugged off Kid Flash's comment, rubbing her stomach as it growled loudly. With a sheepish smile, she gave them a salute, and then ran off into the night.

Wally looked ready to explode, run after her, or do a creative mixture of both, but Robin put a hand on his shoulder and said, "KF, if she can still run that fast, I'm pretty sure that she can take care of her injuries. You, on the other hand, need to start talking."

Turning to look at the others, each of whom had that "disapproving parent" look or some variation of it on his or her face, Kid Flash looked to where Sonic had disappeared to, then heaved a large sigh, dragging his hands down his face. Turning with one last hopeful look, Wally gave a sheepish smile. "I don't suppose we could take a rain check?"

The stern glares that he got in return made Wally wilt as he turned to walk back to the nearby zeta tube. "Yeah, I didn't think so."

* * *

A figure rose from the rooftop overlooking the now silent battlefield and finally relaxed; the cannon that he'd been holding steady for the past half hour shifted back into his arm.

* * *

_A little longer, a little more action, a little more plot. I think this has been a good update. Let me know what you think! Theories, comments, questions, and concerns are welcome._

_~Cinnie_


	4. Chapter 4

As it turned out, the team didn't get the chance to bully the information they wanted out of Kid Flash.

Their mentors did that for them.

"I **did not **give the OK on a mission to **Chicago**. I **did not **give **any of you** permission to engage in combat with **any group**. I **did not **give you permission to **get involved** with the issues that **one meta** was dealing with," Batman growled out, pacing in front of the team. Turning to face Kid Flash, Batman seemed to lower the temperature by about ten degrees with a simple question: "_So what were you thinking?_"

Everyone had their eyes on Batman and Kid Flash, and the rest of the team was silently praying that Kid Flash didn't say anything stupid. With a slant glance at his uncle, Kid Flash started his explanation.

"I have a friend in Chicago. About a week-and-a-half ago, her father went missing, and I managed to track down a lead for her to the science lab. As soon as I got there, I was greeted with the fleet of guards, but the other meta, Sonic, came to help me when I was nearly overpowered. When she finally managed to get into the building, more guards came pouring out, and at that point I returned to the cave to get a med kit for quick injury treatment in the field. The team saw me come in and _insisted_," here, Wally threw his teammates an exasperated look over his shoulder, "that they come along. I never planned to drag them into this, but I could not convince them to leave the matter alone. _That's_ why everyone was in Chicago. Ultimately, it made some difference: I managed to recover a few documents that could help in getting her father back." It was as serious as anyone, save the Flash, had ever seen the young speedster.

While the rest of the room was trying to take in exactly what Wally had risked his and the team's safety for, Barry made eye contact with his nephew. When Wally saw the slightly inquiring look on his uncle's face, he nodded in confirmation. Barry's eyes widened behind the cowl.

Batman interrupted the silent conversation with another question that put Kid on the spot. "Why is this girl's father so important?"

Flash, still in slight shock over the fact that Dominique's father was missing and that _no one had said anything_, zipped over to Kid and gripped him by the shoulders. "She's _alone_ in that city?"

Kid Flash nodded, a tick appearing in his clenched jaw. "And she _won't_ _let me help_."

The other members of the team raised an eyebrow at the speedster's echo of Superboy's words from earlier, but said nothing.

Kid Flash walked silently over to the holo-computer and brought up a picture of-

"**Dr. Silas Stone**. Prominent scientist at STAR Labs. Father to Victor Stone, now nineteen-year-old son who got caught in an unexpected lab explosion four years ago that forced him to replace over 70% of his body with nanotech, and Dominique Stone, adopted fifteen-year-old daughter. The mother, Elinore Stone, was killed in the same lab explosion that caused her son's extreme makeover. Victor ran away from home last year, and Dominique has been living by herself ever since roughly a week and a half ago, when her father first disappeared," Kid Flash rattled off.

"And you know this Dominique?" Aqualad asked.

"Yeah, we go _way_ back," Kid Flash muttered. Turning to face Batman, he continued. "From the papers that I managed to grab, I think that there's some human experimentation going on. There are a lot of notes that match up with some of the ones I've seen in Dr. Stone's notes about what saved his son, except that these are tweaked to enhance rather than just save. The nanotech that Dr. Stone used to save his son's life was the start of something that could end up very large and very dangerous." Pulling a bundle of folded papers out of one of his cupboards, he handed the packet to Batman. After glancing through the sheets, Batman turned his attention to the rest of the team.

"This is the first we're hearing about this," Robin supplied at Batman's look. Glancing over at the Flash, Robin saw that the speedsters were now engaged in what looked to be the most intense game of sped-up charades that he'd ever seen. Another second told him that they were having a sped-up conversation, judging from the high pitched squeaks in the air.

"That got really old really fast," Artemis muttered under her breath. Superboy, on the other hand, was focused on something else.

"So when you said that you had a date, you lied to us then too?"

Flash and Kid Flash stopped in the middle of their talk to look at Supey, and Kid sighed. "Yeah, I lied about that, too."

"HA! I _knew_ there was no way that any _sane_ girl would give in to Baywatch! Pay up, Robin!" Artemis was happier than she'd been all evening, and Robin rolled his eyes behind his domino mask.

"Arty, he didn't even go on a date, so the bet's off."

"DUDE! You bet against me on my date! Not cool!" Wally felt that there was a disturbance in their bromance. Robin just rolled his eyes again and turned back to Batman.

"There was someone else at the site too. He called himself 'Slade'. He could be a meta, judging from the way that he bent an iron rod in half like it was Play-doh, or it could be some form of enhancement. He wears a half orange mask, about your build, stands at around 6'1, and the rest of the costume is black and grey. He seemed more interested in finding out what Sonic was doing at the site than dealing with me when I confronted him, meaning that the entire operation is supposed to be very hush hush," Robin added in what he could to the situation. Batman nodded, and everything was silent for about two seconds.

Then: "Well, Kid and I need to get home and figure some things out. I'm also going to lecture his pants off when we get there, so we'll see you tomorrow." Before anyone could say anything to stop them or wish them well on their journey home, the speedsters were gone.

Everyone's head swiveled to look at Batman, wondering if this blatant disregard for Batman's authority meant war between the Flash family and the Bat clan. Batman looked to the team, all of whom immediately averted their eyes, and said, "The League will look into the Stone case. _None of you_ are to get involved unless someone from the League has given you a _direct order_. Kid Flash is to go nowhere near Chicago alone. More details on this case will come later. Until then, go get cleaned up." Batman turned around and zeta beamed out of the Mountain without another word.

Artemis scoffed disbelievingly. "Batman wants us to contain _a speedster?_"

Superboy crossed his arms. "How are we supposed to do _that_?"

Zatanna bit her lip, thinking of an appropriate answer. "Lots and lots of food?"

Miss Martian twiddled her thumbs nervously. "I don't think we have _that_ much..."

"Whatever we do, Batman has said that we must keep Kid Flash from going to Chicago. We will figure out a way to accomplish that tomorrow," Aqualad said, corralling the rest of the team in the direction of the med bay. "Right now, we must focus on our injuries."

Counting the teammates in front of him, Kaldur looked back to where Robin was still staring at the holo-computer. "Robin." Robin's brow furrowed before he shook his head and followed Kaldur into the med bay.

* * *

For the next week, there was something of a standoff in Mount Justice between Wally and the rest of the team.

There were no missions, because all the major villains of the world seemed to be on vacation (it _was_ summer after all), but Black Canary suddenly had some all day training exercise for the team to work on for some reason or another _every single day_. That was pretty good for the team, who had realized that even the amount of food that was currently in the mountain combined with the amount in every store in Happy Harbor would have been finished_ in a day_ if they had tried to bribe Wally with all of it.

But none of that mattered, because Wally wasn't even _trying_ to escape Mount Justice anymore. Any time that anyone saw Wally, he was typing away on his laptop, which had suddenly made an appearance in the Mountain, completely ignoring the fact that his teammates were about to lose their minds over his inaction.

"I don't like it." Connor pouted as he sat on the couch across from the living room, looking to where Wally was typing on a stool in the kitchen.

"He's too quiet," M'gann agreed. Kaldur and Zatanna nodded. Artemis and Robin didn't say anything, both silently observing the speedster, only their eyes peering over the back of the couch.

Wally suddenly got up from his stool, and Artemis and Robin both had one leg over the couch before he could take a step towards the fridge. Glancing back at his teammates at super-speed, Wally had to chuckle as he pulled an apple from the basket on the counter. Sitting back down, he saw that he had one new email from Dominique.

'_Done in an hour. Get my clothes bag from the house and meet me at the gym.'_

Wally didn't allow himself to overreact, but instead went back to typing for a minute before closing the computer. "Well, I'm off."

In a rather impressive show of speed, Artemis and Robin were in front of him, arms crossed and blank faces. "Just where do you think that you're going?"

Wally gave them an unimpressed look. "Red Arrow's place. At least _he_ won't be staring at me when I'm trying to do work." With that, Wally hiked his backpack over his shoulder and stepped into the zeta beam transporter.

As soon as Robin could no longer see Wally's silhouette, he smirked. "Superboy?"

"He's lying," Superboy answered, following Robin as he made his way to the holo-computer. There was a scramble as the others fell in line behind them. Robin typed in some long strand of code and seven red Robin heads turned green on the screen with a cackle. The result was a time log of zeta beam usage by all League members, including Young Justice.

"Robin, I love you," Zatanna said jokingly as Robin, _very_ smoothly, nearly choked on his spit and Aqualad held back a laugh.

Artemis scanned the page quickly and frowned. "Sorry to bust your bubble, Boy Wonder, but it _does_ say that Kid Flash went to Star City."

Robin, momentarily confused, narrowed his eyes behind his shades. "Wait another minute. Just trust me on this."

Everyone stood in silence, waiting for... whatever it was they were supposed to be waiting for. Then, the text shifted downwards, and another line of information appeared.

"Told you," Robin said smugly, as the rest of the team read: _Kid Flash, B03. From: Star City, CA. To: Chicago, Il. Time: 17.34._

"So, now what do we do?" M'gann asked, standing beside Superboy as Zatanna quickly recited a spell to camouflage Kaldur.

Robin, leading the rest of the group to the garage, looked back at her, smiling mischievously. "Now, we spy."

* * *

"Robin, do you have a lock on Wally?" Kaldur asked from behind him. Megan was cooing appreciatively at the cityscape to Connor, who was not looking very interested. Artemis was staring into the sky, frowning, and Zatanna was standing on Robin's other side, watching what he was doing closely.

Which was probably why the entire process was taking so long.

Robin gulped silently, and pointedly turned in Kaldur's direction. "I'm hooked up to the security cameras at every stoplight in the city. And Wally's currently heading towards the gym."

As Robin said it, Zatanna, who had been watching the actual video feeds, pointed, "There he is!"

Wally, true to Zatanna's word, was standing at a red light, backpack slung over his shoulder and headphones in his ears. Everyone blinked as one.

"Since when can Wally _skateboard_?"

Kaldur stood up from her crouch and stretched her arms. "We had better get moving. We will not find out what is happening by standing here."

Dazedly, the rest of the team followed his lead and walked out of the alley, heading for the gym.

Fifteen minutes later, the team watched from the Bioship across the street from the Stone residence as Wally and Dominique Stone skate-boarded up to the house, Wally waving coolly to some of the children who were playing in a makeshift sprinkler caused by a busted fire hydrant.

The team had been trailing the two since Wally had picked up Dominique from the gym, watching as his entire demeanor changed around this girl. First had come the entirely new outfit: a pinstriped grey vest, faded 'Super Mario Bros.' graphic tee, grey fedora and red skinny jeans. (Artemis had yet to stop staring.) Then had come the complete lack of flirting as Wally handed the girl a bag of clothes, and said nothing when she came back from the gym looking considerably better in mid-thigh length navy overalls, a gray 'Wizard of Oz' t-shirt, and a dark blue beanie. (The only thing that Wally had said for the entire exchange was "You're flying my colors," and that had been when Dominique had first walked out of the gym wearing a loose yellow camisole and a pair of bright red mesh shorts.) The most shocking change, though, was the _complete_ disregard for his secret identity when, upon asking for a soda, Wally _blurred_ to Dominique's balcony, munching on some crackers that he had managed to grab from the kitchen. Robin had started growling five minutes ago, cursing under his breath about "idiot redheads", and hadn't stopped since.

Dominique appeared five minutes later, eight sandwiches split between two plates. She handed one to Wally before she sat down cross-legged and nodded her head at Wally, who sighed and started to talk.

"I'm not _technically_ allowed to help you anymore. Technically, Kid Flash is not allowed in Chicago alone, and Batman has taken over the case." Finally noticing that Min had stopped moving with a sandwich halfway to her mouth, Wally rolled his eyes in a way that was freakishly similar to Roy. "Calm down. _Wally West_ is allowed in Chicago, and the fedora covers most of the bright red hair."

Here Dominique smiled, relieved, and the water from the fire hydrant shot up a good 10 feet before settling down. Robin shot Kaldur a look from the corner of his eye, but the Atlantean was avoiding his gaze. Just like the other three times that a fire hydrant had inexplicably acted up when they were around the pair.

Robin hid a smirk. **I'm on to you, Kaldur.**

"Anyway, did you get what I did from the information?" Wally turned serious again, and Dominique nodded. She grabbed several notebooks that she'd been carrying under the plates of food and gave them to Wally.

_'His notebooks from Victor's accident. It'll probably be helpful to know what you're dealing with_,' she signed. Wally nodded, dropping the books into his backpack. "I'll give them to Batman."

Wally stood up, stretching his legs, and went to sit beside Min. "So, how are you holding up?"

Min shrugged, and Wally gave her another Roy-esque, unimpressed look. "That's not a real answer."

As far as Min was concerned, that hadn't been a real question, but she didn't tell Wally that. Instead, she continued to avoid his eyes and showed him the time. Blanching at the late hour, Wally downed the rest of the sandwiches in two seconds.

"This isn't over, Missy," he managed between bites, handing her the empty plate. There was a moment of silence for Wally to swallow, then he remembered what else he had come to Chicago to tell Dominique:

"Next weekend, there's a barbecue at Uncle B's place. You're coming, right?"

Min frowned. '_Who'd look after the house while I'm gone, Wally? You know I can't just up and leave.'_

Wally, who had been trying hard not to remember that she was the only one of her family in the city, instantly felt his mood drop as he raised his hands to sign. '_Yes you can. You'd just have to come move in with us for however long it takes us to get your dad back.'_

"Oh, great. Now we have no idea what _either_ of them is saying," Artemis said, throwing her hand in the air. Robin focused harder on the moving hands through his binoculars. He could make out a few words between the two of them, but it wasn't really good enough. **Alright, time to learn ASL.**

_'I'm not doing that to your aunt and uncle. They don't need to add me to their already lengthy list of things to worry about,' _Min reasoned.

Wally's eyes narrowed. '_If you don't come to the barbecue and stay over for the night, I'm going to tell Uncle Barry that you're living here alone.' _There was no need for him to tell her that Barry already knew.

There was a silent battle of wills that lasted about 30 seconds, and finally Dominique sighed, rolling her eyes and nodding.

Wally smiled smugly, and got up. "Alright, I gotta go. I'll keep you posted with any new information regarding the case."

Giving her a sideways hug, Wally slung his backpack over his shoulder and left her with a "See ya, Minnie Mouse."

Connor stood up from the floor where he'd been relaying Wally and Dominique's conversation for the rest of the team to hear. "Can we go home now?"

Sometimes it was incredibly easy to remember that Connor was still technically a baby.

Robin helped Zatanna up, M'gann floated back over to her seat, and Artemis had been sitting "bored" the entire time. Kaldur stood slowly, the pull of his magic towards this girl still unusually strong. When the Bioship was up in the air and finally moving away from Chicago, every block was a notch loosened on his magic's strain. Kaldur'ahm let out a soft exhale of relief when they passed over the eastern boundary of Illinois and stretched the muscles in his fingers.

Robin chuckled, but said nothing.

* * *

_Hi again! Sorry this updates a wee bit late. I hope that this little plot furthering makes up for that! Leave a comment, question, concern, and/or theory. I especially love reviews. Thanks for reading!_


	5. Chapter 5

"Vic, whatever you've got had _better_ be worth 54 hours without sleep and 4 coffee runs."

Victor Stone pressed the heel of his hand into his remaining human eye, leaned back in his chair with an exhausted sigh and took a swig from the Starbucks coffee cup on the table.

"I've got_ nothing_. The person that's playing around with Silas's notes left absolutely nothing traceable in the lab. According to the missing person's reports that you swiped from the station, _no one_ that could have potential as some sort of human weapon has gone missing since before three months ago. Coupled with both the fact that I can't get to his floor without some form of id and that I don't have _time_ to make a convincing fake one, you can see why I really want to hit something."

"Why not just use the holo-rings? You know they work miracles." As if to emphasize her point, Jennifer held a lock of hair in front of her face. The dark brown was a lovely change from the pink.

"Because I need to get into his office and see if I can either plant some cameras or double check to see if there are any clues that could give me a lead on who's trying to use him. I can get through the lobby easily, but once I need to get up there, there are going to be a few guards. I can't risk getting stopped," Vic crossed the room to throw out the cup and leaned against the countertop, running a hand down his face.

Jennifer only had to take one look at him to know that the worry about his father wasn't all that was wrong with him; Vic was kind of an open book. "Dominique's gonna be fine, Vic. You know that." He shrugged, mind elsewhere.

When they were still living together before the accident that had ruined his life, Victor and Dominique hadn't been the closest of siblings. As he'd gotten older, he'd thought that she'd been adopted just to make sure that his relationship with his father became even more strained; since the day she'd been brought home, she had latched onto his dad like he was Barney or something. There were the weird blue eyes, which had always freaked him out. His friends had always been interested in knowing about Dominique, the weird, quiet artsy kid who wasn't known to have any friends. (Of course he'd done the obligatory big brother thing and kept the rest of the football team from trying to ask her out, but after a while, he'd gotten sick of having to run interference, inadvertently getting sick of her.) And then, on top of all that, once his mom had died and Silas started to hole himself into his study, whenever they were at home together, she would hang around and just watch him, whether it was when he was working on his car or working out in the gym. He hadn't known how to handle her before the explosion, and then for the months of physical therapy afterwards, he couldn't stand to see anyone, let alone her.

But now that he and Jen had "disappeared" off the face of the Earth, he worried about her.

"No. She's not." Before Jen Xavier could say anything else, Cyborg had pulled his hood over his head and was out the door. Sighing, Jinx grabbed a twenty from the money hole and slipped it into her jeans pocket. She'd probably need some first aid stuff for when Vic came back from bashing heads at some thrice-damned hour of the morning.

* * *

Aqualad was _not_ spying on civilians. Aqualad did not let his curiosities get the best of him. Aqualad was a strong leader whose actions were not swayed by his own personal desires.

Robin knew otherwise.

For two days after the team had spied on Wally and his friend in Chicago, Aqualad had been... thrown off his game. Not entirely noticeable to the rest of the team, but Robin was a Bat, noticed everything, and had seemingly no impulse control when it came to stalking/ trolling his friends. So when Aqualad casually mentioned that he had a "previous engagement" and would not be able to attend Movie Night at the Cave with Connor and M'gann, Robin quietly followed him into the zeta-tube and found his unshakeable leader standing on the street corner across from the Stone house.

Robin couldn't resist. "Hello, oh fearless leader."

Aqualad inhaled a sharp breath and had spun around with one hand already on a water bearer. On seeing Robin's smirking face, he nearly choked on air. "_What_ are you doing here, Robin?"

Robin shrugged, still trying to pull off the "innocent" look. "Well, I figured that now was as good a time as any to start acting like your second-in-command and stop letting you do things on your own. _So_, what are we looking at, Chief?" The horrified look on Aqualad's face nearly made Robin crack up, but just as Aqualad was about to curse 7 ways to Sunday in Atlantean, he was interrupted by the sound of what was probably the start of a large fight a few streets over.

Robin and Aqualad took off into the shadows, Aqualad looking a bit reluctant, and found their way to a rooftop, ready to swing into action if needed. It was some sort of gang fight, from the looks of the various crowbars, guns, and the very distinctive ways that either group was dressed and yelling insults at each other.

As Robin moved to throw a smoke bomb into the lot at the same time that someone took the safety off their handgun, Sonic blurred into the middle of the scene, grabbing one guy's gun then knocking him unconscious, effectively starting the fight. Aqualad's steady hand pulled Robin back from the edge. At Robin's look of "Why the heck aren't we fighting right now?", Aqualad shook his head. "Sonic has priority, as she is this city's meta. If it looks like she needs help, we will intervene."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that she gets to get herself killed first." Aqualad jumped and Robin stiffened as Kid Flash appeared where he definitely had _not_ been a few moments ago.

"Dude, you're not supposed to be in Chicago."

Kid smiled mischievously. "Batman said '_by myself_'. Last time I checked, _you guys_were with me."

Robin could help the appreciative "Nice..." that spilled out of his mouth, and Aqualad couldn't help the facepalm, because Batman was going to kill them all.

All three turned back to the action, though, when someone yelled out, "GOT HER!" Sonic's hands were forced behind her back and a gun was held to her temple as she kneeled. Kid Flash and Robin both had a leg over the railing before Aqualad pulled them backwards. "We cannot go charging into this fight. They now have a hostage. Any sudden movement could surprise the gunman and prove deadly for Sonic," he explained carefully, and Kid Flash ground his teeth, annoyed.

"Now what's your name, princess?" The man who was holding Sonic's arms behind her back gripped tighter, but she said nothing, breathing in and out slowly.

The lackey with a gun nudged her face with a leering grin. "Come on, babe, play nice."

Another guy with tattoos littering his skin bent down to her level, glaring at her calm appearance. "Oi, we asked you a question, sweetheart. What's your name?" As he said it, his hand slid up her pants leg.

Right as Kid Flash had nearly vibrated in anger off the roof, Sonic suddenly snapped her head up to look at the tattooed man.

"Is that all you wanted to know?" Everyone on the rooftop froze, and Kid Flash muttered under his breath, "What is she doing...?"

The thug holding the gun to her head snickered darkly. "Yeah, princess. What can I call you?"

Sonic giggled (_"What the hell?"_) and then lowered her head shyly, mumbling something inaudible. The man kneeling in front of her leaned closer. "What was that?" As she moved so that her mouth was right beside his ear, she glanced up at Robin on the rooftop and-

Batman rasped out of her mouth, "I am the Goddamn Batman."

Kid Flash shoved a fist into his mouth trying not to cackle aloud as Robin blurted, "What the hell?!" The men on the ground were just as flustered as Robin and Aqualad, if not more, which Sonic took advantage of, speeding up her movements and knocking out the remaining group of delinquents. When there was no one left conscious, Sonic bent down to pick up the gun that had been held to her head. Looking at it interestedly, she aimed it at the person who had been using it to hold her captive.

Just as Robin was about to throw a bird-a-rang to throw her shot off course, she aimed at the wall of a building and listened attentively as the bullets rang out against the brick. Looking at the gun in her hand and seemingly weighing her options, she put it into her hoodie pocket, threw a salute up at the boys on the roof, and blurred away.

"How long has she known that we were here?" Aqualad asked warily.

Robin leaned back and sighed. "Long enough. I'm gonna look more into this Sonic person. Hey, KF, can you-"

KF was no longer anywhere in sight. Robin resolutely _did not pout._

Aqualad chuckled softly. "Now you understand how we feel."

* * *

The next few days passed by uneventfully. Wally avoided talking about Sonic, Dominique, and Chicago, and the rest of Young Justice attempted to snoop around and get answers. Nothing was working, until the Flash invited them all to his place.

"Iris and I are having a barbecue in Central, and we want you all there," Barry said, easy smile on his face. "We thought that since it's summer and there haven't been any really big missions for you all, it'd be a pretty good opportunity to unwind and have fun. Already cleared it with Bats for you, Baby Bird. Also, M'gann and Artemis, I don't think Iris has met you yet, and I know she's been wanting to," Barry said with a wink.

The team looked at each other for a hot second before accepting the invitation. It would be easier to learn more about Dominique Stone if they went. Plus, no one wanted to let down Aunt Iris, who sent them assorted pastries every month.

Wally flashed back into the room. "Hiya, Uncle Barry! What're you doing here?"

Something in Barry's eyes tightened. "I just invited the team to the barbecue on Saturday."

Wally's grip on his bag of chips shifted slightly. "Oh. Good."

They both then smiled brightly, and the tension in the room grew slightly before Wally took a deep breath and let it out, muttering, "Good." Barry flashed a smile again, but this time it reached his eyes, and Wally managed something like a smile back.

And despite the massive amount of nerves that nearly paralyzed him, Wally was still almost-smiling when Connor and Megan showed up to his house the last members of the team to arrive. Megan shoved a batch of cookies into his hands- "It's the polite thing to do when you go to someone's house!"- and then followed him into the kitchen.

"Connor!" Connor soon found himself engulfed in a hug by Wally's Aunt Iris, who suddenly was fixing his hair and asking him how he was and straightening his shirt on him and asking if he was hungry and checking him for injuries and scolding him for throwing himself into so many dangerous situations and kissing him on the forehead so quickly that he wasn't sure that Iris hadn't gotten some of the speedster gene by osmosis.

The elder red-had turned her attention to Megan and smiled. "And you must be _Megan_." The careful emphasis of the human name ensured Megan that Iris knew everything about her origins, and both women smiled.

Wally stepped back into the kitchen, cookie crumbs on his face. "Guys, come on. The others are outside." He flitted over to Iris and asked softly if there was anything that he needed to carry back to the table in the backyard, but Iris just gave him a soft smile and pressed a kiss to his temple. "Go have fun with your friends, Wally," she said, gently pushing him towards to the backdoor. Wally smiled at her, clenched and unclenched his fists, and then walked back out into the Central City sun.

"Hey, Wally! Over here!"

Running past his Uncle Barry, whose hand brushed his arm reassuringly, Wally came to a stop in front of Robin and the rest of the team, who were all lounging near the fence, people-watching.

Funnily enough, the team didn't pounce on him immediately, instead just asking him who everyone was, when would the food be ready, and hey, weren't those the Green Lanterns?

Just as Wally was beginning to think that this wouldn't be painful, one of the many friendly people at the barbecue came over and waved to them all before singling out Wally.

"Hi, Wallace, how are you?"

Wally winced at his full name but soldiered on through the introductions. "I'm fine, Mr. Preaton. How is Mrs. Preaton?"

The man nodded. "The Mrs. is well. But you know that I had to ask you how you were doing, especially with, well, _you know_."

Wally eyed the beer in Mr. Thomas' hand warily, as well as the high flush on his cheeks. "Yeah..."

The man kept going, and Wally could see his uncle making motions for him to come over while trying not to appear too obvious. "That's good to hear. Have you heard from your mother, though?" Behind his back, Wally kept making the same hand gesture over and over. Robin, even from where he was still sitting on the lawn chair, realized that it was the sign for "stop".

"No. Haven't heard from my mother," Wally said sharply, hoping that Preaton would get the hint.

"Hmm. Well, that's too bad. Still, I hope that Rudolph rots for wha-" Mr. Preaton was cut off by Barry, who called, "Wally! Your aunt wants you in the house to help her with something."

Wally slapped a smile onto his face, yelled, "Coming!", and apologized stiffly to Mr. Preaton for having to cut their conversation short. Preaton waved his free hand in the air. "No, that's fine. You're a fine young man, Wallace. Don't let anyone tell you anything different."

Wally smiled tight-lipped and started to jog back to the house, only to be stopped by his uncle along the way. "Sorry. I didn't see him wander, and I know he gets loose-lipped when he's a little tipsy."

Wally shrugged a shoulder. "It wasn't as bad as it could have been." Preaton had been worse in the past about trying to be supportive when he just made situations awkward, so Wally was somewhat used to it.

Observing Wally for a relatively lengthy second, Barry ruffled his nephew's hair and sent him into the house, turning back to the grill.

"What's up, Aunt I?" Wally asked as he entered the kitchen, sneaking a bag of chips from the cupboard. She smiled at him. "I just thought that you'd want to know there are some guests for you waiting in the front."

Wally walked down the hallway, and was nearly tackled to the ground by James. "Hey, James! Where's Hartley?"

James snuggled Wally closer to his chest and huffed. "Waaalllllyyy! It's like you love Hartley more than me!"

Wally rolled his eyes. "You know that's not true, James. Now you want to let me go before I die from lack of oxygen?"

James complied, smile bright, and led Wally back down the hallway to where Hartley was standing, engrossed in sign-conversation with Dominique.

"Hey, Little Red," Hartley said, flashing a smile in his direction. "Sorry. I would have joined James in his tackling you, but I was a little side-tracked by your friend Dominique here. You know, 'cause you didn't tell me you knew anyone else who knew sign." Wally gave him a hug, and turned to Dominique, looking down at her duffle bag.

"I thought you said that you weren't going to stay over?" Wally called jokingly, picking up her bag and setting it in the living room. Leading the three to the backyard, he saw Dominique sign, '_You threatened to tell Uncle B. I didn't really have a choice.'_

Wally smiled mischievously. "Yeah, I know." He threw open the back door. "Uncle B, Aunt I! James and Hartley are here! And Dominique is staying over!" He watched as Uncle Barry smiled brightly at his almost-niece, as Hartley reached up to touch his ear and Dominique's shoulders hunched forward at the sight of all the people in the backyard, and as his team all suddenly snapped their heads in his, or rather, Dominique's direction. He could tell this was going to be the beginning of a long afternoon. His sigh only lengthened as the hose suddenly turned on and doused Mr. Preaton.

"It's gonna be a long day."

* * *

_Now we get to the fun part. Well, this entire story kind of _is_ the fun part. Nevertheless, the plot starts to really unravel in the next few chapters._

_Again, leave comments, questions, concerns, and theories. Thanks for reading!_

_~Cinnie_


	6. Chapter 6

Wally crashed on his couch and sighed, long limbs flopping over the arm of the furniture. Looking out at her from under the hair falling into his eyes, he quirked an eyebrow. "Well, _that_ went well."

Dominique, who had opted to sit on the floor across from Wally's couch, let out a full-body sigh, and tilted her head questioningly at him, recognizing his sarcasm.

Wally grinned humorlessly. "Well, there was the fact that Robert and Megan asked you questions about the entire grand scheme of your life, with only Hartley there to run interference. Connor said absolutely nothing to you, and Athena and Zoe were entirely occupied in their own side conversation." Dominique noticed that he'd said nothing about Kalvin, his rather formal friend with the incredibly distracting voice. She chose not to address it.

'_I thought it went pretty well, for meeting your teammates,_' She signed, and Wally gave a grin too lazy to stay on his face. "You _would_."

The Spanish Inquisition had died down once most of the guests had left, interestingly enough, and then Kalvin and Robert had had some type of secret eye-conversation that seemed to have made Kalvin embarrassed and Robert ready to laugh until the cows came home. At which point Kalvin had gotten up, thanked Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris for hosting him and the others, and then left around 6. There hadn't been much left for Wally and her to do at that point, seeing as the hose had finally stopped freaking out, so they had escaped back into the house away from the few stragglers left.

The party had been kind of fun, even if it was a bit jarring for Min to suddenly be thrown into the relative spotlight. She had been lucky enough to have both Hartley and Wally help her with every question, and then when it got to be too much, Hartley had moved her to the edge of the party, away from everyone. She'd have to ask Wally for his email address to thank him-

"So what're your colors?" Wally said, rolling onto his side to look her in the eye.

Min sighed again, because the question meant that the downward spiral that was her life was really happening. She shrugged, shuffling over to her bag and reaching into the side pocket. She pulled out a notebook and tossed it gently to Wally, who had sat up. As he flipped open the first page, she made her way over to him.

The sketches were simple: a domino mask, a camisole, a vest, pants, and combat boots. The only things that even hinted as to what the sketches were for were the fingerless gloves and the detailed pair of headphones that were in the upper right hand corner of the page. The headphones were mainly black, with lightning bolt etched onto the side.

Wally grinned. "Showing your allegiance. I like."

He took the red pencil that she'd held out and colored in the lightning signs. Then they got to work.

An hour later, Barry walked into the room to find the floor covered in crumpled sheets of paper and a scattered pack of colored pencils. Wally and Dominique were laying on the floor, a few sheets of paper lying around them, Wally asleep with a pair of over-sized headphones held loosely in his hands. Min looked up, startled as Barry bent to pick a crumbled sheet of paper off the floor.

"Well, what do we have here?" He glanced at the drawings that Min and Wally had been working on for the better part of 3 hours. Min froze in time to Barry's eyes widening.

They held their pose for the better part of a minute, which translated to forever in speedster time. When Barry finally looked up, the lines of his face were deeper than usual.

"So. You too, huh?"

Wally, of course, choose that time to wake up from his catnap on the couch. "Min, I'm hungry. You want anything? We can get back to the project la- _heeeeeeey_, Uncle Barry..."

Barry looked from Wally to Min with that same weary face. Then, gesturing to the sheet in his hand: "This means that you're going into the family business?"

Wally and Min glanced from each other to Barry, and then a broad grin and relieved smile broke onto their respective faces. Min nodded the affirmative.

Barry sighed, ran a hand down his face, sat down, then asked, "So, what exactly can you do?"

* * *

**-2 Days Later-**

_"This is Christine Nelson, reporting to you from midtown Chicago, where three androids are storming through the city in a beeline for STARR City labs. The police have created a barricade, but it does not look like it is going to hold with the amount of power that these machines seem to hold. They came out of the river about 20 minutes ago and have been heading straight towards the lab ever since. Now the question we are all wondering is: What do these things-"_

_Behind Nelson, a figure zooms speedster-style over the street, up the side of the building, and delivers a powerful kick to one of the giant androids' faces. The head snaps sideways, and the figure clings to the head while the body falls over. At the very last minute, she jumps into the air again to land safely, and the more familiar face of Kid Flash appears, beaming as he twines a chain through the legs of the other two androids, causing them to fall on top of the other robot._

_"-While we have no idea who this mysterious new hero is, the fact that she and Kid Flash are working together probably means that this situation is going to turn around very quickly."_

_The camera zooms in on the young girl, no older than Kid Flash, who had just thrown herself into the fray. She and Kid Flash communicated quickly, then went about dismantling the robots one by one as quickly as possible._

_"-Let's get a closer look."_

_Nelson works her way up MLK Drive, then carefully makes her way over to where the other hero is standing, brow furrowed and looking over the 3 cannibalized robots contemplatively. "Excuse me, Miss? Can you tell us what exactly these things are?"_

_The girl fiddles with the headphones slung around her neck, and then steels her resolve. "We don't know exactly what's going on, but we do recognize some of the parts as what one would find in a walkie talkie or remote-controlled car. No one was inside of the machines, which means that they were being controlled from a remote location. That's all we can tell you right now."_

_Kid Flash stops beside her, waving at the camera. Nelson pounces. "Kid Flash, what brings you so far from home?"_

_Kid Flash smiles. "Sonic and I go way back. She's practically family," he finishes vaguely, before Nelson can ask about the more personal aspect of their relationship. He turns to 'Sonic,' who nods at him and says to the cameras, "That's all we have time for right now, ladies and gentlemen. We'll be sure to keep you posted as best we can." The two turn and speed off without another word to the press. "And there you have it, folks. Apparently, we have a new meta in town. This Sonic-"_

Batman shut off his monitor and steepled his fingers, resting his chin on the tips. He and Barry needed to have a talk.

* * *

As it turned out, the team needed to have a similar talk with Wally. When he zeta-ed into the Cave, suffice it to say that he was not prepared for his friends, who had set up camp in front of the docking centre. All were glaring at Wally with varying degrees of anger and disappointment.

He smiled sheepishly and took a step backwards, hoping that the beam would pop him back to Chicago. When it didn't, he cursed under his breath and sighed, waiting for the onslaught.

"You and Sonic go _way back_?" Robin said in a petulant tone, arms crossed.

"She's _practically family_?" M'gann pouted, looking rather put-out.

"You were alone in Chicago against Batman's orders _again_," Kaldur weighed in, the disappointment of his words weighing down heavily on Wally.

Artemis got up from her perch on the side of Robin's armchair and jabbed a finger into Wally's chest. "Explain yourself."

Connor glared, and Zatanna murmured threatening words under her breath. Wally couldn't tell if they were said backwards or forwards.

Wally sighed again, then tried to book it out the back side of the mountain. Before he could turn the corner, M'gann had a psychic death grip on his body. She hoisted him into the air and pinned him down in the centre of the 'death glare' circle.

Wally sighed. "So I guess now I have to tell you, since _all of you_ seem to be the jealous type."

"Talk, Wally," Artemis said, hand on the crossbow on her waist.

"Well, she's the same girl from the original surprise Chicago mission. She's been trying to get into the crime-fighting business for a while now, but this was really the first time the public has seen her. We were trying to slide her in casually, without too much drama-"

"Well that plan went down the drain pretty quickly, considering that about 4 major news stations think that you two are dating," Zatanna said wryly. Wally spun around to face her, the air around him slip-streaming as it caught up to the movement. "What?!"

"Yeah, _congrats_, Baywatch," Artemis sneered. "By 11 o'clock you'll be engaged to be married."

"_Ew_, no! She's like my sister!"

"Yeah, well you did a terrible job of telling the news people that," Artemis snapped. Everyone else stayed quiet to watch the tension rise.

"Hey, I tried, Missy! It's not _my_ fault that-"

"Yeah, it _is_ your fault! If you'd just listen to Batman's orders _for once_, then-"

"I can't listen to Batman on this one, ok? Jeez, this is something different and I'm practically in the middle of it. I can't just _leave it alone_-"

"You're gonna get yourself _killed_ like that, do you understand? If none of us are there _to help you_, then _sooner or later_ you're going to end up-"

"_That's why I have to help Sonic!_" The Cave was quiet at Wally's outburst, and it was a few seconds before he continued. "If I... I'm basically saying the _same_ thing that you're saying to me to Sonic. She's...trying to handle something bigger than herself on her own. She's _all alone_, OK? I can't let her run herself into the ground like that," Wally finished quietly, and Robin finally connected the dots with a silent "_Oh._"

There were a few moments of silence, then Artemis jabbed Wally in the chest again. "Hypocrite."

"Ow!" "Just because you think you're all _wise_, trying to help this new girl out, _don't think_ that you've outgrown your team. Take your own advice, or you'll find an arrow up your butt."

Before Wally could think to respond, Artemis had turned around and strode down the hallway. M'gann, Zatanna, Kaldur and Connor followed, the intervention evidently over for them. Robin lagged behind, looking to Wally for confirmation.

"So it's her?"

Wally sighed. "Yeah."

"And then that's her da-"

"Yeah. You can see now why I can't just _'leave it alone'_, right?"

Robin frowned, considering. "You should bring someone-"

"More qualified in to help? Dude, if I could, but there is no way I'm dragging anyone else into this. Truth is she wanted nothing to do with this. She **hates** being in front of people, and them knowing everything about her, then wanting to know more than that. She saw him do it twice," Robin inferred that the 'him' was Dr. Stone, "and she wanted no part of that. But now she has to deal with it. I'm just going to make it as bearable for her as I possibly can, which means no one else can get it on it."

The two boys were silent for a moment, then Robin sighed. "Fine."

Wally grinned tiredly. "Thanks." He paused, then confessed, "You know, you were her favorite hero for a long time."

Robin smiled, looking like the gleeful 13-year-old he should have. "Really?"

Wally smirked. "Only 'til she heard of me. Don't get cocky, Batboy."

Robin rolled her eyes. "Sure, Streaky. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

* * *

**-2 Days Later-**

_"This is not happening."_

_"Why do I feel like some kind of Power Ranger fighting something way bigger than I am?"_

_"Ok, that just made it angrier. Not trying that again."_

The robot, looking exponentially advanced compared to the three androids from days earlier, swung its arm around, and Sonic, Kid Flash, Robin, and the few civilians remaining on the streets watched in abject horror as the arm shifted into a cannon. Sonic and Kid Flash rushed to get civilians out of the way while Robin used a grappling hook to get to higher ground and scout out a weak spot.

Less than 5 seconds later, there was a crater where the street had been. Sonic bit her lip and set down the last of her civilians, warning them all to get a safe distance away. She then sped up the side of the building Robin was on and fired a bullet from the gun she had taken in the almost-gang fight into the robot's eye socket. It did nothing, except make the robot- or whoever was controlling it- very angry. With a faster reaction time than the last time it had fired, the target was locked on the roof before Sonic could ask Robin if he had any ideas.

"GET OFF THE ROOF!" Robin called uselessly, already launching his grappling hook. Sonic, out of options, leaped off the side of the building. Kid Flash, who had been chucking pieces of asphalt and brick at the joints of the giant android hoping that something would be dislodged, heard an earth-shattering "BOOM" and turning, saw that STARR Labs was on fire.

"That lab is fricking _cursed_," He muttered darkly to himself, rushing off to attempt an emergency evacuation as best he could by himself.

Leaving no one to help Sonic as she fell.

Sonic, who didn't trust herself to scream, took a deep breath in, closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands, waiting for impact.

2 seconds later, when she wasn't a splatter on the concrete, she opened her eyes.

"._..Well then._"

The ground, from 2 centimeters away, greeted her. She extended her arms and fell gracefully from a handstand to her feet. Robin, on his comm link, breathed out a "Thank you, Miss M."

The Bioship flew overhead, dropping off Superboy and Aqualad. Sonic barely had time to acknowledge the help before- "_Whoa!_"

Aqualad gripped Sonic around the waist and pulled her behind a car, away from the blast zone. Eyes wide with panic behind the domino mask, she gripped Aqualad's arm for a moment trying to steady herself. Aqualad said nothing, allowing her to get her bearings and ignoring the spark that flew up his arm at the touch of her overheated fingertips. Heart rate back under control, she squeezed his arm and said, "Thank you."

Aqualad smiled calmly and said, "You are welcome. After you?"

Sonic gave a grin not unlike Wally's and leaped over the car hood, Aqualad following close behind her. Spotting both of them, Superboy yelled out, "A little help here?"

Robin threw 3 bird-a-rangs into the leg Superboy was holding, and Aqualad wrapped water from a busted fire hydrant around for extra support. As the cannon formed again, Sonic, adrenaline pumping, ran forward, jumped, and screamed directly into the cannon.

There was a large flash of electricity, and then the cannon, less smoothly than before, shifted back into an arm before swatting Sonic out of the sky.

Sonic went flying backwards, and the boys let go of the other leg to duck for cover as the other arm shifted into a cannon. Sonic twisted once in the air before she regained her senses.

As she was about to crash land on her back, she stopped in mid-air. "Well, that's definitely new." Righting herself, she picked up a steel bar and launched herself into the air towards the torso of the android.

Close to the speed of sound, she struck the chest, leaving a huge dent. Dropping to the ground, she let out a "Whoo!" and a double fist pump.

"Since when could _you_ fly?" Robin asked, momentarily distracted.

Sonic smirked. "Evidently, since just now. Now, if we could just-"

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Robin and Sonic both leaped out of Superboy's path as he ran forward carrying some unfortunate soul's car. He chucked it at the robot's torso, but this time the other arm caught it and threw his back at Superboy before it could make impact.

"So, I guess it's a learning bot," Robin muttered, but Sonic shushed him. "It's saying something," she explained at Robin's affronted look.

_5:00, 4:59, 4:58..._

"It's counting down," Superboy said plainly.

"But to what?" Aqualad asked, watching the robot do nothing but watch them. Sonic and Superboy heard the ticking at the same time and yelled, "Bomb!"

The android suddenly kick-started, walking towards the centre of the town. Robin and Superboy leaped behind the android, Superboy attempting to drag the robot backwards and Robin looping his last bird-a-rang's cord around the other leg and then the other end around a street pole. Aqualad and Sonic were attempting to beat the robot backwards with more screaming and water. Sonic, floating backwards, aimed and unloaded her gun into the robot.

One bullet, debatably lucky, hit something, and then they were on the other end of an intercom.

* * *

_"Less than 3 minutes left. And not a hero in sight. Odds aren't in your favor, Doc."_

_The next voice, tired, shaking, and defeated, made Sonic freeze in her tracks. "Please. I did what you wanted. Just let me go."_

_The first voice, a man's, husky, muffled by what was probably a mask, chuckled. "Doc, you know we can't do that. Gotta tie up loose ends."_

_"Please. Jesus, please. I have a family, a daughter. She's been through enough. If not for me, then please, for her-"_

_"Well, Doctor, if someone can find you in the next, hm, 2 minutes and 36 seconds, then your daughter won't have anything to worry about, will she?"_

* * *

"SONIC!"

Aqualad watched as Sonic flew out of sight, left to handle the front side of the robot by himself.

"What is she-"

"Just keep trying to restrain this thing. Sonic needs to worry about that by herself!" Robin yelled from behind Superboy, where he was throwing more bombs at the joints.

Kid Flash, with Artemis on his back, and Miss Martian trailing not too far behind with Zatanna, blurred into focus, eyes wide. "Fire taken care of. Everyone in the building was taken care of. Robin, can you trace where that message came from?"

"I've been trying. Narrowing down to a specific location now. In other news, someone needs to help me with this. Miss M?"

Zatanna quickly cast a spell that turned the ground in front of the robot to ice, and as she did, Artemis fired an arrow designed to short out electrical currents into the torso dent.

"Got it!" Robin yelled. "4 blocks west, 15 south. On the water! 428 Wri-"

Before Robin could finish the address, Kid Flash had already sped off.

Just as he reached 428 Wrigley Place, a building 1.5 miles down the river blew up.

_**"SONIC!"**_

* * *

**-2 Minutes and 34 Seconds Earlier-**

Sonic flew straight upwards and focused as hard as she could on the sound of her father sobbing. She slipped on her headphones, the ones that Wally and Uncle Barry had helped her fine-tune to filter out excess sound based on location.

_2:15, 2:14, 2:13..._

At the two minute mark, she heard the deep whispers of her dad's voice from a run-down property on the waterfront. Speeding towards it, she failed to notice the automatic locked on her position in the sky. She did, however, notice when a bullet managed to graze her and then another clipped her side. She dropped sharply, and tracing back the trajectory, she fired a quick screech in the gun's direction. As she landed, the gunman cracked her head on the floor, blown back from the concussive force of the automatic exploding. Rushing down the stairs, she brushed aside the cobwebs that hung from the rafters in favor of getting to her dad.

As she burst through the door, Sportsmaster looked over and raised an eyebrow.

Looking at the stopwatch in his hand, he got up from his chair. "Cutting it close there, hero. Only a minute and twenty seconds left."

"I'm here, aren't I? Let him go."

Sportsmaster let out a chuckle. "You must be Sonic, the new suit we've been hearing about. How about we get to know each othe-"

The click of the safety being taken off was enough to shut Sportsmaster up.

"Fine, spoilsport. You win," he said, moving slowly. He mirrored Sonic in a wide arch around the room, keeping his eyes on the gun all the way to the doorway. With what Sonic guessed would have been a smirk under the mask, he looked back at Dr. Stone and said, "Give my regards to your family." With that, he left.

Sonic held the gun steady for another second before she was behind Dr. Stone, untangling the rope. He was shaking, and Sonic could only mumble, "It's ok, Doctor. We'll get you back to your daughter soon."

The process of unraveling Dr. Stone took longer than usual due to Sonic's own trembling hands.

Focusing on Dr. Stone's back, because if she focused on his face, there would have been tears, Sonic said, "Sir, do you know who else besides Sportsmaster was involved in this plan, and what they had you working on?"

Dr. Stone inhaled deeply. "Some kind of merging of the nanotechnology I used on my... son, and the human DNA. They want to expand the idea of superpowers beyond the meta-human gene in a process similar to the one I used to save Victor." His voice broke on the name and Sonic had to stop herself from launching into her dad's lap and crying for a good while. Sportsmaster's timer blinked '0:20' at her, and she finally came around to look at Dr. Stone.

Trained on his face were 4 red dots.

"I can't move from here, otherwise all the machines will go off," Stone explained, tears in his eyes, blurring Sonic's paled form. She looked on in horror, sinking back to her knees. "I'm sorry. Just... please tell my daughter '_I'm sorry_'. _'I'm sorry_' and _'I love you._'"

_I love you, too._

Silas stared at this girl's shaking hands and recognized the fingers dotted with paint, the scar on the left knuckle, the tiny birthmark on her neck. Dominique bit her lip, eyes blurring as her dad smiled grimly. "I love you."

For the last 5 seconds, Dominique laid her head on her father's lap and cried.

At 0:00, she flinched as the shot was fired and blood splattered onto her hair. Slowly, she got up on weak legs and walked over to Sportsmaster's stopwatch, ready to throw it at the wall. Numbly, she watched as it counted down again:

_0:03, 0:02, 0:01. BOOM._

Sonic managed to launch herself out the window just as the building went up in flames.

* * *

**-With Young Justice-**

"IT'S AT 5 SECONDS!"

Aqualad pushed with all his might at the robot's torso, and suddenly the metal gave. He quickly flooded the hole with water, and watched as, finally, the body came to a crashing halt.

"Woohoo!" Miss Martian voiced everyone's feelings about the finish, and that was when the news crews came flooding in, and the building on the pier exploded.

**"Excuse me, Aqualad!" "Aqualad, can you answer a few questions?" "Aqualad, over here!"**

Kid Flash still had not appeared from the crowd, and Aqualad turned to Robin. Pulling him away from the crowd of reporters, Robin explained to Aqualad that "the explosion just now? That came from a building about a mile and a half up the river from where I told KF that the signal was coming from."

"Someone rerouted the signal?" Robin nodded solemnly. Aqualad called to Kid Flash through the comm link, but got no response. "I repeat. Kid Flash, do you-"

Robin's muttered, "Oh boy," successfully diverted Aqualad's attention to the arrival of one of the Green Lanterns, Batman, Black Canary, Zatara, Aquaman, and the Flash.

The rest of the members of Young Justice who were present fell in line beside Aqualad, ready to get chewed out.

Batman eyed the team wearily, then turned his attention to Aqualad. "**Where** is _Kid Flash_?"

The Flash, jittery as usual, went strangely still at the question, but Aqualad's response was drowned out by the arrival of Kid Flash himself.

**"Kid Flash, can you tell us who is behind this?" "Kid Flash, why has STARR Labs been targeted in the recent attacks?" "Kid Flash-"**

Kid Flash went straight to the Flash, a noticeable frown on his face. Too quiet for the reporters to hear, he updated the Flash on the situation.

Meanwhile, Aqualad was debriefing Batman on why they were all in Chicago this time, what had happened, who Sonic was and what her abilities were. At the same time, Robin was speaking to the reporters, relaying as few details as he could while satisfying at most 3 of their questions.

The reporters dropped him like a hot potato when 5 minutes later Sonic, the woman of the hour, appeared on the scene. She gave the reporters a wave before stopping beside Aqualad and shaking his hand. "Thanks for the assist."

Aqualad frowned. "Something happened to you when you left the fight." He turned his full attention from Batman to her, noticing the blood on her side, the graze on her arm, the water dripping from her figure. "Something dangerous," he saw the tear tracks on her face, "and painful."

Batman stepped back further into the shadows, watching the scene unravel. From beside Superboy, Black Canary did the same.

Glancing back at the reporters, Sonic waved a hand to give them a bubble of privacy. Seeing Aqualad's questioning look, she said, "No sound gets past us." Aqualad hummed appreciatively. Batman's eyebrow went up behind the cowl.

Sighing, Sonic folded her arms over her chest, seeming to Aqualad subdued. "Dr. Stone is dead. He was shot once in the head after a timer set by Sportsmaster reached 0:00, the same timer that we heard from the robot. The building exploded 10 seconds later. The doctor was able to tell me that Sportsmaster and others are trying to make superpowers more accessible beyond the meta-gene with nanotechnology. Essentially, a more complex version of what he did for his son."

Kid Flash blurred over with the Flash. "_Are you ok? You got shot. Who shot you? Why are you soaking wet? What happened?_"

Aqualad noticed the blood in her hair before the speedsters did. "Sonic?"

She turned to him, looking exhausted. Then she almost collapsed clutching the wound on her side, and he knew that it would not help matters to tell her about the blood. "Nevermind." Turning to Batman, he asked, "Can we get her some gauze?"

Looking to see who he was talking to, Sonic jumped. "Jeez, they weren't kidding about the whole "I am the night" thing, were they? Er, Batman, sir," she finished sheepishly.

Batman looked her up and down. The speedsters were giving him puppy dog eyes around their various eye-wear, and Aqualad... "Go."

Flash flickered in and out, returning with a first aid kit. In seconds, Sonic was patched up.

Robin popped up beside Batman, nearly giving Flash a heart attack. Sonic had heard him coming and smiled weakly at him. "Thanks for the help."

Robin, looking concerned, nodded. When she realized what the concerned look meant as Kid Flash avoided her eyes, she elbowed KF in the side and announced, "If you'll excuse me, I need to make a house call."

With a fake smile and a salute to all, Sonic fled the scene. When Batman let her, the others knew that something was up.

**"Batman! Can 'Sonic' be trusted?"Is this new 'Sonic' character going to be on the Junior Justice League's team?"**

Aqualad grabbed Robin and Kid Flash's arms, tightening his grip to prevent either of the from saying something about the term "Junior Justice League".

Batman replied with a simple, "No comment."

* * *

**_A.N.: If it's any consolation, there was college involved. Sorry! Please review!_**


	7. Chapter 7

Brian Moore was not known for his patience. In fact, his near-legendary temper had led him to buy his own space for a gym. More specifically, a boxing ring. And over the years, he had gotten monumentally better at not blowing his already rather short fuse.

But as he looked up at the clock, which showed that time was fast approaching 15 past 10, he could feel himself start to twitch, stretching his fingers in an attempt to approach the situation calmly.

Moore made his way from behind the reception counter past the various weights stations and the cycles to the walled off boxing room at the back of the gym. The teenager, who at this point had been wailing on the punching bag for the better part of 5 hours, was still going at it like the thing had personally insulted her or something.

"Oi, kid," Moore called out, but her grunts of exertion as she continued to hit the bag were the only answer he got. "KID."

Letting out an exasperated and grounding sigh, he walked around the bag and stopped the rattling himself. The girl started and tugged her headset from her ears, still looking pissed. Moore felt himself soften the tiniest bit as he saw her red eyes and the tear tracks on her cheeks.

"Listen, kid, I should have closed up shop 15 minutes ago. You gotta go," he explained, watching her steel her face and wipe away the last of her tears. She nodded stiffly and although she eyed the punching bag, she wiped down with a towel and tugged on her hoodie. Shouldering past him with her bag, she made to leave without a word.

Watching her back move farther away, Moore felt something twist in his stomach. "Hey, kid. You ok?"

She stopped walking and was so still that Moore could have sworn that she wasn't breathing. After a few moments, she unfroze, shrugging, and continued on her way. Moore kept his eyes on her until she was no longer in his sight, but soon forgot her. He had asked, and that was enough for him to be able to get a good night's sleep.

* * *

As she rolled up to the house, a feeling of dread washed over her. Quiet, Dominique took out her keys and unlocked the door. The house was cold as she shucked off her sneakers, dropped her bag, and slowly made her way up the stairs. Exhausted, she flopped onto her bed, curled up and tried to go to sleep.

She was woken up several hours later by the sound of someone throwing a stone at her window. Creakily she unraveled herself from the ball she had curled into and padded over. When she looked, no one was in the yard, but not by any stretch of the imagination was she ready to deal with anyone who may have been there, so Dominique made her way back to bed. As she went to sit, the doorbell rang.

Upon first seeing her, Wally knocked Min back into the house with the force of his hug. Definitely not having anticipated the teen, Dominique was a statue in Wally's arms, as he whispered how sorry he was, how he wished that he could have gotten to the pier in time, how he was there for her now. Dominique wasn't aware of how hard she was holding him until Wally made a move to let go and she found herself unable to let her death grip go. He lifted her into his arms, toeing off his shoes at the bottom of the stairs, and with Minnie still clinging to him, he laid her on the bed, dropping his backpack and curling in behind her. Uneasy, but slightly more secure now that the other was within reach, the teenagers slept.

When Wally woke up, the sun was up, the bed was empty, and he could hear the kettle shrieking. Rubbing his eyes and letting loose a bout of satisfying cracks in his spine, the redhead made his way downstairs. Dominique stood by the stove, a mug filled with tea gripped in bone-white fingers. Wally seated himself on the counter top in front of her and pulled the mug to his mouth for a sip. It was silent for a few moments before Minnie held up a few pieces of mail, offering them to Wally.

Thumbing through the envelopes, Wally noted that all the envelopes came from STARR Labs, marked by people mainly in the same department but also those who had worked in close proximity to the late Dr. Stone. The ginger sighed.

"It's been two days," Wally reminded her gently, but Min gave no indication of having heard him. At least not until a disembodied voice spoke from seemingly nowhere, Min's lips not moving. "I guess that I was waiting for the condolence parade to start, but..."

Wally stared at Min who stared at her mug of tea, eyes startlingly blank. Wally waited for her to finish speaking, knowing that there was more. (When Minnie spoke, it was deliberate and thought out. Every sentence was a complete thought, and no words were wasted.)

Sure enough, she looked up at him, eyes still flat. "What do I say to them? To anyone?" A shudder raged through her body, and she tried to continue. "I haven't- I can't- I don't..."

As Wally was about to ask for clarification on Minnie's fragmented statements, 2 short beeps rang out through the kitchen. Both teens stopped, and then Minnie's eyes found her mug again as Wally raised a hand to his ear. "Kid Flash."

A grimace ran over Wally's face but he said, "Fine. Be there soon. KF out." Running a hand down his face, he met Dominique's eyes. She said and signed nothing, but looked pointedly at the door.

Wally gathered his sneakers and stopped by the door that Dominique was holding open. Hesitating, he pulled her into a hug and again reassured her that he would be back later. She nodded and watched as Wally ran around the corner, presumably heading off to do heroic things. Dominique let the door shut and made her way to the den couch, mug of tea again in hand. Folding her legs up under her, she turned on the TV to watch the news.

"-Labs has announced that there are plans being set in action to build a bronze statue dedicated to the late Dr. Silas Sto-"

Just as quickly, Dominique turned off the TV. Leaning forward and digging the heels of her hands into her eyes, she tried very hard not to scream.

* * *

"I'm here. What did you wanna talk about?" Wally asked Batman as he trailed through the Mountain after the detective.

Batman glanced back at Wally but said nothing as of yet, taking in the rather exhausted demeanor of his nephew for all intents and purposes. But first things first. "How is she?" He rasped, knowing exactly where Wally had spent the night.

The redhead in question sighed, running a hand through already unruly hair and crossing his arms over his chest. "Honestly? She's _awful_. The "sorry" letters started coming in, and the news probably isn't running anything other than mini-documentaries of Silas Stone's life, and she's hardly taking care of herself, considering that there was no indication that the stove had even been turned on in the past few days. She won't look me in the eye, more often than not, and the house is damn well _freezing_ because she barely lives in i- and pretty soon she's going to have to start worrying about the house because _of course_ she's a minor who has lost _both_ her parents and her _brother_'_s_ missing and it's not like she's had _enough_ to worry about in the past week but now you have to lump a _mortgage_ on top of all that and I don't kn-"

"Wally." The redhead, who now recognized that he'd been speaking what Uncle Barry affectionately called Speedspeak, looked up from his rambles and sucked in a large breath at Batman's next question: "How are _you_ doing?"

The boy shook his head stubbornly. "I'm better than she is because at least _I_ still have a family and a secure roof over my head."

Behind the cowl, Bruce's eyes narrowed. "And your other... friend, Sonic?"

Wally stiffened. Directly lying to Batman was a trick that still gave even Robin trouble. So, remembering what Robin had told him to do to lessen the chances of his getting caught, he told a half-truth. "She saw Dr. Stone's death herself. Was there to hear his last words. She's pretty much my age, and she hasn't been doing this for very long. How do you think she's doing?"

There was a pause, and then Batman acquiesced. "Understood."

They walked in silence down the length of the corridor for a little while longer, but Wally internally was kicking himself. Of course Bats is gonna know about watching your parents die. Jeez, Wally, way to reopen an old wound like a champ.

The speedster murmured, "Sorry," and Batman grunted in response. Wally then remembered that there had never been a time to tell Bruce Wayne, as Wally knew him to be, that he knew of his double life via Robin, so he just hit himself in the face mentally and kept rambling: "About being snippy, I mean. Because that's the issue here. And not anything personal. Uhh, yeah..."

Taking a moment to compose himself and stop the smirk that was threatening to break free, Bruce allowed his voice to soften the tiniest bit. "Wally, there isn't much that Robin can hide from me. And there is even less that you are capable of hiding from me. _I know_."

Every possible red light in Wally's head was going off. So he did what he evidently did not do best: lied. "Bats, what are you talking about? I'll have you know that I am an amazing liar. It kind of comes with the suit, if you know what I me-"

"Robin told you on April 1st of his secret identity, thus revealing my own. I have chosen to do nothing about the situation, believing you to be trustworthy and a good friend of Robin's. Just like you decided that Dominique Stone was trustworthy enough to know your secret identity, and vice versa."

Wally, frozen even before Batman had revealed that he evidently trusted him, let out a very attractive gurgling noise from the back of his throat. Bruce allowed himself a raspy chuckle, then sobered up. "Now again: How is Sonic doing?"

* * *

_-6 Hours Later-_

"Minnie? Minnie, I'm back. You still here?" Wally opened the door with the spare key and searched the house in a matter of seconds. Frowning when he realized that she had evidently gone out sometime in his absence, the teen caught sight of an envelope and card that were sitting on the counter.

Wally recognized the barely legible script.

_"To Ms. Dominique Stone, I am truly sorry that you must endure such loss. I understand if you wish to be left alone, but know that I am always willing to listen, if you wish to write. Again, my condolences. Most sincerely-_"

"AQUALAD?!" Wally stared perplexedly at the note as Dominique walked through the door, hoodie drawn over her head and hands shoved deep into her pockets. She looked up at Wally's less-than-manly shriek and saw the note in his hand. She steeled herself for the conversation she was sure was about to take place.

Attempting to collect himself, Wally stared hard at Minnie in the awkward silence before asking slowly, "Where were you?" Minnie blinked twice before signing, "Somewhere near Nevada."

Wally's brow furrowed. "What were you doing there?" Dominique, unwilling to say that she had spent the better part of 3 hours screaming herself hoarse where no one could hear her or worry about the amount of damage done to the desert there, did not answer, eyes flickering to Aqualad's note still clenched in the redhead's hand. Of course, the speedster caught the movement and resumed his freakout. "No, better yet, _what's this?_"

Dominique kept her face carefully blank and held up another card for Wally to see. The contents were basically the same, but instead this card had been signed-

"Robin. Who knows." A disembodied voice deadpanned as Dominique stared at Wally, waiting for him to explain himself. Wally's eyes stayed trained on the card in her hand as he racked his brains for something to say. The silence dragged on for a while longer until finally Wally sighed, running a hand down his face.

"Ok, so, I screwed that up. _Royally_. So really, _because_ I screwed up so badly, the only real course of action that we have is to make good choices in the future and hope that nothing awful comes back to bite us in the ass. Which means that you _never ever talk to Aqualad_ if you don't want the League involved," Wally gravely intoned.

Dominique stared blankly at Wally, and then scoffed, a bitter smile taking over her face. The disembodied voice she was controlling sounded again: "So it's that simple, huh? Just move forward?"

Wally frowned. "I just said that I was sorry. And that I did screw up more than I think anyone had really anticipated. I can't go back and change anything that I already did, and I can't make Robin take back his sudden realization, so the only real option we have here is to-"

"Just move on? Wally, I watched _my father die_, and I can't even throw him a _funeral_ because there is _nothing _left of _his body_ to salvage. _The Justice League of America_ is now aware of the fact that there is an unknown meta half-working with your team and is probably going to look into the matter, destroying what _little amount of privacy_ that I thought I had left. And then there's _Robin_, sidekick of _Batman_, who knows who I am both _with and without_ the mask. How long do you think it will take until some cape shows up at _my_- emphasis on "my," because I am now the _only_ person living in a house built for _at least_ four- at _my_ door trying to pry _even more_ into my life?" Dominique's message momentarily stopped as she let out a silent, violent sob that broke her concentration. Wally reached out a hand to help her, but she stepped back to the threshold, effectively out of his reach. There was a tense silence that hung heavy between the two, and then Dominique asked, avoiding Wally's eyes, "Could you _please_ just... give me some time alone?"

Wally frowned, but tried to save what was left of the conversation: "I don't think that's such-"

"Wally. Please. Just... just go." At Dominique's insistent plea, Wally huffed and walked past her, bumping his shoulder against hers as he left. As the door shut, Dominique opened the cabinet immediately on her left and took out one of the many bottles of Jack Daniels whiskey that her father had kept specifically for the anniversary of her mother's death. She contemplated it for a moment, and then grabbed a glass. She poured herself about a quarter of the glass, and then attempted to down it.

As soon as she swallowed the first bit, Min coughed and spat the rest all over the place. Bracing herself on the counter against the burn in her throat, she waited for the feeling to pass. She looked at the bottle in her hands and just started to laugh soundlessly, first a few chuckles, and then almost hysterically as she turned and slid to the floor. _This would happen to me._ Her head hit the wall, and later on she couldn't tell you if that was the moment that she started to cry.

* * *

_"This was not the smartest of ideas you've ever had, Ra-"_

_"Well... that escalated quickly..."_

_"C''mon, I'm goin' for pizza at that hole in the wall. Shut up, I don't need a Supernatural ref-"_

The college-town side of Chicago had no real problems that Sonic could pick up from where she was situated on the roof of Willis Tower. She pressed down the edges of her mask for the fourth time in the past 2 minutes as she took a deep breath and once again opened her ears to the north side of the city.

The headache that immediately hit her still hurt, even after using her powers a countless number of times before, but she still managed to hold onto the railing and not fall off the roof. Now that everything was blaring at an equal volume, she had to sift through the unimportant stuff and look for anything that might have sounded like crime happening around the nei-

"With a headache like the one it looks like you're sporting, I wouldn't be so close to the edge."

Sonic flailed and nearly threw herself off the rooftop in surprise. Before she could overbalance in the wrong direction, two hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her backwards to safety.

Whirling around, Sonic was met by Black Canary's smirk. Her mouth was suddenly startlingly dry.

"Hello, Sonic," Canary said casually, as though she and Sonic always met up on rooftops in the middle of the night. Sonic got to her feet and managed a "Hello."

Sonic dialed down the sound of the rest of the city until the only thing that she was focused on was the fact that one of the Justice League was here in her city for no reason that she could readily ascertain.

Canary's smirk inched a little more into smile territory. "I bet you're wondering why I'm here."

Quickly, Sonic plastered a smile onto her face. "Well actually, I'm wondering why you said that if you even knew why I was wondering."

Canary chuckled wryly after a moment. "Yeah, I can see the Kid Flash in you."

Sonic twitched, but said nothing, smile still intact.

Black Canary nodded once to herself, then spoke again. "But different than Kid Flash, you don't really have a mentor. Someone who could keep you... _grounded_, for lack of a better term, and make sure that you don't do anything too rash."

Sonic's smile faded minimally. "You're such a good samaritan. What, was this the community service portion of your Justice League membership?" Black Canary said nothing in reply. "Look, I don't really need anyone to get involved. I'm doing perfectly fine on my own." Her right hand came up to flatten the edge of her mask.

Black Canary could recognize a tell when she saw one. "And the textbook definition of fine includes destroying the Nevada desert for the better part of three hours?"

Sonic's face went blank, and she didn't answer.

"Look, you've obviously got some history with Kid Flash, but not nearly as much experience as he does in the field. I just wanted to extend the helping hand that every-"

"Do I look like I need help?" Sonic snapped, immediately wanting to take back the words because it seemed like snapping at any cape was a horrible idea, let alone a member of the Justice League. Black Canary considered her for a very twitchy moment. "No," the blonde relented with a wry tone, "I suppose you don't."

Sonic huffed, not knowing whether to call the comment a win or a loss. "Well, good then," she said unsteadily, and Black Canary watched her silently. Then, after allowing Sonic to sweat out the lull in conversation a bit, she turned around to leave.

"I hope then that we don't see too much of each other. Good luck, Sonic."

Sonic scratched at her nose. "Yeah, you too, I guess." Just as Black Canary was about to leave, Sonic called out, "WAIT!"

Canary turned around, one eyebrow quirked. Sonic swallowed ostensibly, and then blurted: "Did Batman have anything to do with this visit?"

Black Canary smiled a little condescendingly, and said, "No."

_Ba-bump-bump-bumpbumpbumpbump-ba-bump-ba-bump-ba-b ump-_

Sonic managed a small smile. "Good." Black Canary smiled companionably, and then leapt off the side of the building into one of the League's jets. In two seconds, it had zoomed off into the night.

Sonic's smile dropped. "Liar."

* * *

"She didn't take the bait." Black Canary said upon entering the Mountain.

"But?"

"But she's picked up on your trail, knows that you're onto her." Black Canary paused as she went to walk out of the room. "She's faking her way through everything."

Batman nodded minutely. "She's only 15. Teenagers are notorious for lying to everyone, including themselves."

Black Canary chuckled. "I really shouldn't be surprised that you already know who she is." Batman grunted in response. "So, what do you plan to do with her, then? The press will continue to ask questions."

Batman gruffly replied, "I have something in mind."

* * *

Sonic finally dragged herself into bed a little before 6 in the morning. Her head hurt beyond comparison, and she planned to sleep for 24 hours or more after changing into an old sweatshirt and a pair of sophies.

Two minutes after lying down, Min sat bolt upright again, hearing a window opening downstairs and two pairs of footsteps slowly thudding up from the basement. Ducking out into the hall and into Victor's old room, she brushed off a baseball bat that had lain under his bed since before the accident. Slowly, she stretched her head into the hallway and listened for more footsteps.

She couldn't hear anything.

Heart pounding deafeningly in her ears, she readjusted her grip on the baseball bat, her stomach turning queasily as she recognized the fact that she had lost her only advantage over the intruders.

Slowly making her way down the stairs and willing them with all her might not to creak, she made her way to the main floor.

The second to last step groaned loudly.

Cursing and also catching sight of a shadow disappearing into the kitchen, she quickly hurled the baseball bat in the general direction and tried to race back up the stairs. A bulky figure leapt from the main floor to the step right in front of her, and she struggled not to scream.

"DOMINIQUE, CALM DOWN. IT'S ME."

Keeping her hands firmly in place over her mouth so as not to suddenly out herself as a meta-human, Dominique realized that her option of lashing out and hitting everything within reach was now void. So instead, at the same time that she realized that a cloth was being pressed to her face, she kicked backwards as hard as she could and, having incapacitated some unknown female, she turned around and ran out the door, breathing harshly and managing not to shatter every glass in the area as she ran south.

* * *

Barry couldn't say he startled easily, not with his job description and his abilities. He could usually see everything coming from miles away, having worked out a situation's outcome seemingly hours before in speedster time.

But he could be surprised every now and then, as he was when his doorbell rang an hour before his alarm was set to go off at 8.30 and Dominique was standing shivering on his doorstep.

"Please let me in," a disembodied voice asked. The fact that the pitch was lower and the tone nearly robotic gave away his niece's current state of mind, and Barry ushered Min inside.

She wiped off her bare feet on the welcome mat, and Barry went to fetch her a blanket. When he returned less than a second later, Min had laid down on the sofa and was hiccuping violently. The shaking hadn't stopped, and as far as Barry could tell, Min was barely getting air into her lungs.

"Min? Minnie, I need you to look at me, ok? I need you to listen to my voice and try to get your breathing like mine, alright? Minnie, sweetheart, can you do that for me?"

Min didn't show any sign of having heard him. In fact, tear-filled eyes fixed blankly on the table in front of her, Min's gasps for breath only got worse. Barry, for all his heroic experience, was quickly losing his head as well, knowing that nothing was helping.

"DOMINIQUE!"

Three more hiccups for air rattled her small frame, and then Dominique fainted.

* * *

_Sorry for the long wait! Review please!_


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